Why do companies STILL fake bezel sizes in their marketing?

[Hasle]

It's been baffling my mind for ages. Why do the manufacturers still insist on faking bezel sizes in their marketing? Why is it allowed? It must be against all sorts of marketing etiquette - or laws even - to present your product in a way that is not representative of the actual physical product?

 

Take NZXT's new "Canvas QHD" monitors for example - I did a little comparison:

 

 

Am I just being sensitive and nit picky, or does anyone else feel that it's immensely annoying? I love thin bezels, and it seems like the manufacturers know that I love them as well. But until you have the technology to produce such thin bezels, please don't tease us with your stupid marketing stunts. Thanks.

 

[Mojo-Jojo]

2 minutes ago, Hasle said:

Am I just being sensitive and nit picky, or does anyone else feel that it's immensely annoying? I love thin bezels, and it seems like the manufacturers know that I love them as well. But until you have the technology to produce such thin bezels, please don't tease us with your stupid marketing stunts. Thanks.

Nah, I agree with you. It's not like their marketing images just accidentally show smaller bezels. It's willful consumer deception and a shady practice at best.

[Needfuldoer]

My guess is, the people adding the phony screenshots in Photoshop just replace the entire face of the LCD with a screenshot. They might not even know how much of the panel is the active image area.

[porina]

I agree it is bad to misrepresent a product, but I suspect the real reason is that it is rather difficult to take nice photos of displays. It looks better when the display content is photoshopped in. 

 

1 minute ago, Needfuldoer said:

My guess is, the people adding the phony screenshots in Photoshop just replace the entire face of the LCD with a screenshot. They might not even know how much of the panel is the active image area.

I type too slow but yes, that. You could argue there is a lack of sufficient oversight to get the details right but this is probably more incompetence than intentional deception.

[TetraSky]

If you buy a product based on their marketing material and find out it's a lie... you can return the product and leave a scathing review for false advertising.

It is a very valid complaint to have when it comes to monitors. They show super thin bezels but in reality it's a lie. Could even go as far as suing for that if you felt like it, but probably not worth your time if you can return it.
You can however report it as fraud with the FTC or some other agency, because that's what false advertising is. If they can't even be arsed to photoshop their images to represent the product properly to mislead customers, they deserve the complaint against them.

 

In canada:

https://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/03133.html

Quote

Don'ts

• Don't use illustrations that are different from the product being sold.

[Hasle]

21 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

My guess is, the people adding the phony screenshots in Photoshop just replace the entire face of the LCD with a screenshot. They might not even know how much of the panel is the active image area.

I'm sure that's the way they'll spin it if pushed on the subject. "Brian in marketing has never used a monitor before, he doesn't know how they work!"

[Jorgemeister]

41 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

My guess is, the people adding the phony screenshots in Photoshop just replace the entire face of the LCD with a screenshot. They might not even know how much of the panel is the active image area.

But then someone must have reviewed them before going public.

[Hasle]

Well, didn't expect this. Major cudos to NZXT for their candor response.

 

 

Moderated my excitement a smidge. Looking at their website, it's obvious that their whole marketing campaign is more or less based on the impression that the monitors are "bezel-free", which is incredibly deceptive. So their excuse of not "catching it before it went live" is bollocks. But let's wait and see what they do with it.

[Hasle]

If I bought three of these, unpackaged them, set them up, and turned them on - I think I'd be pretty ticked off. It's not even because the monitors look bad with the "panel-frame" - I guess technically it isn't a bezel, but you know - they look fine. Still a stylish monitor. Just don't be so sus about it. Damn.

 

 

[IPD]

Reminds me of how all car ads use the same blackbird vehicle...

[GoodBytes]

The reason they do this is because statistically speaking, most don't return their purchases.

So, they use temptation for you to buy it, and they know you won't return it, especially that it sounds silly "Or the border is a bit larger than expected".

The problem is that it encourages these manufactures to continue.

 

If the return rate is high, it will cost the company a lot, and they will be forced to no longer lie in their marketing material.

 

[Hasle]

On 7/21/2022 at 10:19 PM, GoodBytes said:

The reason they do this is because statistically speaking, most don't return their purchases.

So, they use temptation for you to buy it, and they know you won't return it, especially that it sounds silly "Or the border is a bit larger than expected".

The problem is that it encourages these manufactures to continue.

 

If the return rate is high, it will cost the company a lot, and they will be forced to no longer lie in their marketing material.

I know this is not a new phenomena. I found a video on YouTube from 10 years ago, where LG had pulled the same stunt - advertised a "1.2 mm bezel" and depicted the monitor with a fake edge-to-edge image output. I just hoped it was a thing of the past, honestly. It's been a while since I've seen other manufactures go down this path, and I kinda hoped they had finally seen reason.

 

This particular example with NZXT is such blatant misdirection of their consumers, that it makes my blood boil. But I guess I can't do much else, than hope they stay true to their promise of rectifying it. But like you, I suspect they won't do a thing until the sales stagnate, or the returns start piling up.

[Stahlmann]

On 7/18/2022 at 10:17 PM, Hasle said:

Well, didn't expect this. Major cudos to NZXT for their candor response.

 

 

Moderated my excitement a smidge. Looking at their website, it's obvious that their whole marketing campaign is more or less based on the impression that the monitors are "bezel-free", which is incredibly deceptive. So their excuse of not "catching it before it went live" is bollocks. But let's wait and see what they do with it.

That response is again just marketing bullshit imo. You don't "accidentally" make misleading marketing materials.

 

I personally think it's a minor annoyance and as a monitor enthusiast i know that these images don't fully represent the final product. There is NO bezel-free display in the consumer market. Still, it's not right to purposely misrepresent the product in any way, be it pictures or performance claims.

[Hasle]

nzxt.com

 

Mission acomplished - they corrected most of the images to now properly display the screen border. Good on them.