Yesterday was mid-term election day in the U.S. which meant that CNN had a lot on its plate. Millions of viewers were tuned in as they followed the election. Microsoft had a prominent product placement throughout CNN’s coverage of the election which is why Surface Pro tablets were propped open in front of the panelists. Though things went south when viewers noticed that the panelists were actually using their iPads behind the Surface Pro units.
If you tuned into CNN yesterday during its coverage of the election you might have noticed the Microsoft Surface Pro units resting on the table courtesy their kickstands. Some eagle eyed users spotted the panelists hiding their iPads behind the Surface Pro tablets, this created a lot of buzz on social media as screengrabs showing this product placement fail gained a lot of traction.
One of the panelists was actually spotted using the Surface Pro in front of her as a stand for her iPad, which only added insult to injury. This was certainly not the kind of buzz Microsoft would have wanted to create for its tablets following this product placement. The Surface Pro tablets have tried hard to win over iPad users but it just hasn’t seen that kind of interest from consumers.
This is not the first product placement fail for the Surface Pro. Microsoft’s tablets are the official tablets of the National Football League (NFL), and it was noticed multiple times that the announcers referred to the tablets as “iPads” during the start of the season. At one point, the Surface Pro was even referred to as “iPad-like.”
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