Samsung hypes Note 4 by copying Apple's iPhone 5c "for the colorful" ads

With sales of its flagship Galaxy S5 flagging, Samsung has turned toward hyping its upcoming Note 4 stylus-based phablet using teaser ads targeting the same "for the colorful" characters Apple presented last year using iPhone 5c.

Critics bewailed Apple's iPhone 5c as being all wrong and a huge failure when it appeared last year, but it turned out to be the best selling phone in a variety of markets behind only the top of the line iPhone 5s.

In particular, the new iPhone 5c trampled Google's Moto X, which many of the same critics had praised and described as expected to "supercharge" Google's software and services.

Competitors noticed. In April, Microsoft's Nokia began targeting the same demographic of colorful users in its own, ironically named "not like everyone else" ads.

Samsung's own new teaser spots, called "Love Notes," similarly present a series of offbeat personalities wearing lots of youthful colors. In Samsung's case, however, the whimsy is turned up several notches and the characters speak without regard for grammar and without any filter on their sexist or simply ignorant personifications of Samsung's phablet as whimsical graphics are overlaid on them via slick post processing.

The first spot presents Mark Hunter, who operates a curiosity shop "inspired by a 90's teenager's bedroom." He refers to his Galaxy Note as his "life companion," and states, "if my Note was [sic] a person, it would be like a super organized secretary, it would be like, really sexy... short skirt... you know."

A second, presenting "model blogger" Marta Pozzan, puts on colorful costumes and poses for blog shots taken by her platonic, fashionable friend.

"I think this is a little too much," she says while posing with a pink boa over polka dot pants. Her friend flamboyantly replies, "like, too costumey? But it's never too much!"

A third spot by Diva Dompe— a recording artist who fronted LA indie pop band BlackBlack a decade ago and controversially performed in blackface— presents Dompe as a new mother who is creatively inspired by the ability to draw with a stylus.

While the spot fails to show Dompe actually using a music app to compose or perform (instead drawing boxes for cassette tapes using the Note's stylus), she does claim that "The Note is an amplification tool. You can use the crystals that are inside of it to transmit the energy outward."

In a fourth spot, Samsung portrays hair stylist Day Day as using a Note stylus to draw hair designs for clients. "I heard the Note 4 is coming out and it's going to be awesome, guaranteed. Get that," he advises.

One prominent Note user not featured in Samsung's Love Notes campaign is FOSS Patents blogger Florian Mueller, who has reported using the phablet for some time. In April, Mueller noted that he cracked his Note 2 screen, resulting in a replacement that cost $400, roughly the same as what an unlocked Note 2 can be purchased for on Amazon.

Apple offers to replace a broken iPhone 5s screen for $149 via its in-store screen replacement service.