I would not have liked to be in the shoes of Tim Cook when the news of the photos of famous stolen in iCloud made headlines; There was barely a week left for the official presentation of Apple Pay, its payment service that should revolutionize the market, and the company was faced with a security problem, but above all, a very serious image. What was the point of asking users for their credit card details with such a recent scandal? Since then Cook has earned his salary, going to as many interviews as he could, reiterating over and over again the message that iCloud was not hacked but attackers gained access to accounts using phishing and other techniques. Changes were promised in iCloud, and the security measures implemented to prevent theft were highlighted at the conference itself.
Paypal strikes first
But it was inevitable that sooner or later some of its competitors would take advantage of the circumstances to promote their own service, and this time the fastest has been PayPal with a new promotional campaign in which it ensures that we want our money more secure than ourselfies. Although neither Apple nor iCloud is named in the ad, it is clearly a reference to the stolen selfies case; Although in the USA it is not illegal to mention the competition brands in advertising, Paypal surely did not want to risk a lawsuit since it is implying that in fact the case of the selfies was a hack and that attackers can get our credit card as easily as some photos.
The use of the scandal of the stolen photos is highly controversial by PayPal, which shows that are willing to do anything to promote their payment service; It is no coincidence that your brand was not present in Apple’s presentation on the list of options to pay, and we can interpret this campaign as revenge. The problem is that PayPal is not the best way to talk about securing our payments; The company has also suffered its own ration of attacks and on many occasions has made bad decisions that have affected the bank accounts of legitimate users around the world.
Let’s enjoy our money, not worry about it. #paypalit for a safer and more secure way to pay: http://t.co/DFAH3bqniS. pic.twitter.com/e5udR8zGBJ
PayPal (@PayPal) September 15, 2014
