Orange paying actors to line up for the iPhone 3G in Poland

The iPhone 3G hits 20 more countries tomorrow, and while we doubt the hype will match the craziness of launch day, that's not stopping Orange from trying to re-create the madness in Poland -- it's hiring "dozens" of actors to line up at 20 stores around the country to "drum up interest." Yeah, that's just sad -- especially since there aren't any real customers in line at Polish T-Mobile stores, which is also carrying the phone. Good luck selling phones to your own actors, fools -- when will these companies ever learn?

PS.- That's a pic from launch day in Chicago -- any Polish readers have a shot of the actors for us? Send 'em in!

Update: Yep, there they are, from appleblog.pl -- and check a video after the break from Gazeta.

[Thanks to GreenToad and Yorick_Rise]

[Markus @ Aug 21st 2008 5:50PM]

Did you hear the one about the Polish actor?

[erhan @ Aug 21st 2008 10:09PM]

They can borrow some of our US fanboys that would wait over a week for a phone.
Lol they have to hire actors and here we have to hire security to stop people from fighting.

[boss-hogg @ Aug 22nd 2008 9:21AM]

just wrong

[f14tomdog2 @ Aug 22nd 2008 5:46PM]

what pointless waste of money

[Evangelion @ Aug 21st 2008 5:50PM]

lol! Sad. Really.

[Lars @ Aug 21st 2008 7:35PM]

Now if someone asks me what's sadder than standing in line for a stinkin' phone, I can say with confidence: paying actors to stand in line for a stinkin' phone.

[Joseph @ Aug 21st 2008 5:52PM]

How many Polish does it take to buy an iPhone?

[BigD145 @ Aug 21st 2008 5:54PM]

1 to grab the door handle and 100 actors to move the building.

[Hung @ Aug 21st 2008 5:55PM]

Probably the same number of Poles it takes to buy an iPhone.

[Jubei @ Aug 21st 2008 5:53PM]

Whoever the idiot in marketing that came up with this idea needs to get fired. Must be an utterly amateurish and inexperienced suit that came up with this.

[yode @ Aug 22nd 2008 5:44AM]

E

[Boarderwoot @ Aug 21st 2008 5:53PM]

I'm sure the real customers will be absolutely thrilled that the line is way longer then it should be and how much time they've wasted waiting for them to get out of the way...if anything, any polish people wanting a phone would bypass the hastle, stay home and eat some sauseege and wait till all the actors leave, thats what I would do. mmm sauseege.

[zzz @ Aug 21st 2008 7:57PM]

What is a sauseege again? Sounds pretty delicious.

[Neebs @ Aug 21st 2008 5:54PM]

In Solidarity, they generate hype.

[david amodt @ Aug 21st 2008 5:55PM]

there are polish actors? Orange Actors at an Apple Store... kinda ironic

[bandigolo @ Aug 21st 2008 6:09PM]

ha. orange. apple. i get it.

weird that i don't even associate the word "apple" with fruit anymore. Stupid internet.

[getStringFromObj() @ Aug 21st 2008 6:16PM]

There are quite a few orange actors and actresses, most characterized by major addictions to self tanning lotion. I heard that George Hamilton has been freebasing his spray tan solution for the past 10 years.

[ack389 @ Aug 21st 2008 8:40PM]

No man, many orange actors also happen to be midgets, thus they make the perfect actors for oomp-loompas

[Evangelion @ Aug 21st 2008 5:56PM]

I wouldn't be surprised if actors were paid to do the same thing here in the U.S...

[John @ Aug 21st 2008 5:59PM]

This has been done in most European countries. People get paid to stay in line. Students get free Apple products and they show it asif 80% of all students use Apple.

Apple does a lot of Hollywoord in-TV and in-Movie advertisement, newspaper advertorials and so on!

Its called...... Marketing and apple is very good at it!

[Amz @ Aug 21st 2008 7:24PM]

I guess their superior advertising skills explain my incredible hate for the company and their products.

[I-phone Is I-sexaayy @ Aug 21st 2008 5:59PM]

i just cant wait to see how apple haters will turn this around on them :)

[letstakeawalk @ Aug 21st 2008 6:10PM]

Well, you can't compare Apple to Orange, so...

[nohone @ Aug 21st 2008 6:23PM]

They could make fun of it the way that you and the rest of the Microsoft haters have made fun of the advertisements for Mojave, Seinfeld, Surface, Zune, etc.

But really, they shouldn't make fun of this. A pure act of desperation such as this reveals some deep-seeded issues with self confidence. And it is just not right to make fun of those with mental problems. Which is why I don't make fun of you.

[I-phone Is I-sexaayy @ Aug 21st 2008 6:44PM]

see, I just knew someone would do it :)

[Darkest Daze @ Aug 22nd 2008 3:39AM]

Sometimes I wish that Engadget would introduce a script to temp ban, then perm ban people who rack up a certain number of low rankings within a certain amount of time. After the first 20 or so low rankings, it's no longer just a "difference of opinion" and becomes trolling...or complete douchebagery.

[Ignatius @ Aug 21st 2008 6:00PM]

Now you have to pay people to hype a product... well, that's Apple for you.

[George @ Aug 21st 2008 6:03PM]

Um...I think you should read the article again...

[phanbouy @ Aug 21st 2008 6:15PM]

he only needs to read the TITLE

[whowhatme @ Aug 21st 2008 9:08PM]

you mean part of the title?

iPhone article must... post...

[roach @ Aug 21st 2008 9:41PM]

I can't blame Ignatius for his Apple comment. I'm sure if this was Dell pimping Vista someone would said "well, that's M$ for you."

[marty k. @ Aug 21st 2008 6:02PM]

No T-Mobile in Poland, epic phail!

[marty k. @ Aug 21st 2008 8:04PM]

T-Mobile does not exist in Poland as a mobile carrier, there are no T-Mobile stores there. Which makes this article a fail. Now you get it? xD

[Darek @ Aug 21st 2008 8:18PM]

http://www.era.pl/pl/strona_korporacyjna/o_ptc/udzialowcy

[marty k. @ Aug 21st 2008 8:47PM]

Still, it's just an owner of majority of shares. Not a carrier.

[Yorick_Rise @ Aug 21st 2008 6:05PM]

Here you can see info note (in Polish) and embarrassing movie. Orange admits its part of their "strategy". How stupid.

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80273,5611649,_ZW___Orange_robi_sztuczne_kolejki_po_iPhone_y.html

[Slawek @ Aug 21st 2008 6:08PM]

Wow, I saw this on a polish news site this morning but didn't know it would make it all the way here. One guy in line told a reported he's willing to sell his spot in line for ~$2,500 dollars so these guys are really playing their parts pretty well.

I agree that Apple is great at marketing, mainly sticking their computers into every Hollywood flick out there, but I doubt that Apple actually had their hand in this. Orange just wanted to duplicate the hype and got called on it. The article goes to say that there are more than enough iPhones available for everyone with no phone shortage in any of the stores. I love my people.

[bobartig @ Aug 21st 2008 8:02PM]

Apple wouldn't go anywhere near this sort of thing. Man, they were working really hard to get rid of the lines in the US stores.

[mailbox01 @ Aug 21st 2008 6:10PM]

Wouldn't shock if Apple was doing that in the USA. With the fake leaks and paying people to stand in line to hype their products. Jobs is the king of hype. Too bad the quality of products is crap. 3G, MobileMe, 2.0 etc and that was only the 1st half of 2008.

[RHCPSFAN @ Aug 21st 2008 9:47PM]

Yeah , thanks for reminding me that apple has only ever made 4 products.(rolls eyes)

[Wwhat @ Aug 21st 2008 10:45PM]

Most live TV show audiences are at least partly (and in some cases all of them) hired actors too,.
And I don't just mean the 'infomercials'.
But I think this kind of thing is pretty old, they did it way back in the 20's and earlier already, that kind of fakeness, long before there was an orange/apple, although now the world perfected it and NOTHING is real anymore, I would not be surprised if I found out I was some AI script :/

[sonicwind @ Aug 21st 2008 6:13PM]

I'm not a real iPhone customer, but I play one on TV.

[simon @ Aug 21st 2008 6:15PM]

good one :-)

[Nightmare @ Aug 21st 2008 7:02PM]

I was paid to stand in line for someone on opening day, so someone could pee. lol thats as close as i got to being an iphone 3g actor, got paid to stand in line and had no intention of buying one, too bad im not polish, if so... what a coincidence

[Brad @ Aug 21st 2008 7:49PM]

@Nightmare

Now, if you were REALLY clever you would have asked the person behind you for the same amount to leave the line before peeing-apple-fan came back.

[Kent @ Aug 21st 2008 6:15PM]

A line up at a Chicago store might as well be shot in Poland - Chicago has the second largest Polish population after Warsaw.

Remember when communist countries had the general rule that if you saw a line, you got in it in hopes there might be something good to buy at the end, like bread or vegetables?

It would be appropriate if A) they were paid by getting a free iPhone, and B) everyone in line claimed to be an actor when the doors opened.

What does an actor paid to look like a Mac person talk about all day when stuck next to another actor pretending to be a Mac person?

[marty k. @ Aug 21st 2008 6:18PM]

First and foremost, no one in Poland uses Macs. It is common knowledge that they are useless. Then, Poles are quite hype-resistant and it is really hard to market new product there. If it is not Nokia, they will not buy it ;-)

[Ray @ Aug 21st 2008 10:14PM]

"What does an actor paid to look like a Mac person talk about all day when stuck next to another actor pretending to be a Mac person?"

What a horrible thought. Judging by those mac commercials, it shouldnt be to hard to mimic the unnecessary amount of hand motion used when talking. Put some glow sticks in there hands and set it at night and it would be a nice rave.

[bartheq @ Aug 21st 2008 6:19PM]

things like this make me feel sorry for my country...

[Homan @ Aug 24th 2008 1:55PM]

DON'T

Feel sorry for coutries that don't have to hire actors to stand in line for hours and days on end...