The OnePlus One is surely one of the more intriguing devices to be released so far in 2014. However, its launch has been somewhat marred by OnePlus’ Smash the Past marketing campaign; you can win the opportunity to get one of the OnePlus Ones for $1 if you volunteer to destroy it in a video on YouTube. Unfortunately the nature of the contest was announced before the official rules were put in place which ended up in many a prematurely destroyed smartphone. While it’s definitely a very interesting campaign, it’s not exactly productive, in the conventional sense, which is why it’s good to see that OnePlus has teamed with Medic Mobile to potentially do some good.
To the 100 applicants who have won the opportunity to buy the new OnePlus One for $1, Medic Mobile is working with OnePlus to offer these winners the chance to donate their phones to Medic Mobile’s cause instead of destroying them on video. For those interested, Medic Mobile is a nonprofit organization that recycles old phones so that healthcare workers in remote corners of the world can have access to better mobile technology. As Medic Mobile puts it:
“You’re giving the best new tech out there for $1 and recycling users’ existing phones for good. And then we’re turning those 100 phones into 1,000 phones for people that were left behind with the tech revolution. It brings it full circle in a really interesting way.”
I think it’s great that OnePlus has brought some good out of this campaign, but it seems like a waste to simply offer this option to only the winners of the Smash the Past competition; it should be offered to all purchasers of the OnePlus. But that’s just me thinking out loud; what do you think about all this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: OnePlus via TalkAndroid
