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Top technology firms, Samsung and LG, have a history of bitter rivalry, but their latest spat over a handful of washing machines has prompted a public backlash.
“This is all so petty and juvenile,” a reader on online portal Naver said of the dispute, which began in September when Samsung accused LG executives of damaging its washing machines at stores ahead of an industry event.
LG agreed to pay for what it called accidental damage to four machines following mediation by German authorities, but couldn’t resist taking a pot shot at its rival’s build quality.
Samsung railed against those ‘slanderous claims’ and filed a formal complaint at home in South Korea, triggering a raid of LG offices by Seoul prosecutors and a travel ban on LG’s head of household appliances.
“This is a mudslinging match,” said Park Ju-gun, head of corporate watchdog CEO Score. “Both Samsung and LG will have a hard time getting the public to understand why things have gone on this way, and there is not a single thing for either party to gain from this.”
That bemusement, punctuated by a collective snicker, has also found a voice online. “If all that has been said is true, then this is nothing but a petty dispute you’d expect from street corner shops and not global companies,” said a reader on the Nate portal.
On the streets, too, the comments were scathing. Lee Hyeon-woo, an office worker, said it appears the ‘mentality’ of these companies is not ‘we’re number one’ but ‘we must take down rival X’.”
Neither company appears ready to let the matter drop. LG has filed its own complaint with prosecutors accusing Samsung employees of deliberately concealing and tampering with evidence.
