OnePlus' new ad features severed limbs and jean shorts and we're serious

You can’t accuse OnePlus‘ marketing of being conventional. Misguided, perhaps, but there are few manufacturers tackling advertising the way OnePlus does. For better and for worse.

The company has previously tapped Emily Ratajkowski to outline the benefits of its OnePlus 5 camera, had online personality Arron Crascall do an unboxing video in a Lamborghini, and now it has unleashed a horror-themed promo video for its OnePlus 5 titled “OnePlus: Lake Blood” (hey, there’s an idea for a new color variant!).

The thinking behind it, I presume, is that it combines the strengths of the two aforementioned ads — it targets a similar blend of “action” and “humor” as the Lamborghini promo, while mixing in some of the “sex appeal” of the Ratajkowski ad. Take a look below (be warned, there is some blood/horror imagery).

It’s a play on horror movies like Cabin Fever and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and while I don’t understand the Mashable gag (is the joke that she knows a lot about Mashable?) the commercial isn’t an abject failure. It highlights the one of the phone’s standout features — that being the camera — in a functional way.

The ad will likely raise more questions from long-term fans about the company’s strategy, though. OnePlus has blogged about its marketing practices before, claiming that, in the beginning, it was working with virtually no advertising budget, while now it apparently has more money to invest in its branding. At the time, OnePlus stated: “We will only spend money on marketing when it really, truly adds value for our fans.”

What do you think? Has the video above met that criteria? Let us know in the comments.