Refurb phone company ‘hacks’ Apple stores with airdrop stunt
By Zara Wilson on Wednesday, May 11, 2022
A refurbished smartphone brand hacked displays in Apple stores to help promote more sustainable tech.
Back Market created a bot to Airdrop messages iPhones, iPads, and MacBook’s inside their stores.
Messages read ‘Quick! Security isn’t looking’, ‘It’s time to go refurbished. With a cheaper and greener model’.
A pop up link then directed customers to the refurb store.
The ‘hack’ took place across three major cities: London, Berlin, and Paris.
The phone that sent out the alert was carefully placed in a water bottle stored on a bike that was left outside the Apple stores.
The stunt was planned with the hopes of changing people’s attitudes about refurbished phones and making more sustainable purchases. In the video you see positive reactions from everyone involved with one gentleman saying that the stunt made him change his mind.
This was a bold move from Back Market and Marcel Agency, but it will most certainly have people think more consciously about their future tech purchases.
