Nokia Corporation (NOK): Ethics Probe Into Lumia Ad Mishap

Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK), during the week of its big launch of its new Lumia handsets that would run Windows Phone 8 as their operating system,  got caught with a feeble attempt to try to convince viewers of an advertisement that camera shots featured in the ad were simulations of the company’s PureView technology on its handsets.

While exaggerating video for camera quality is not an old play in advertising and marketing campaigns, it turns out that Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) used a high-end professional camera to make images appear like they came from a Lumia handset with PureView camera technology – without showing a disclaimer expressing the simulation and stating that the image is not from a Lumia handset. But instead of just apologizing and correcting the problem, Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) reported that it would conduct an independent ethics investigation into what happened to cause the ad to air.

There has been much uproar in the media and blogosphere since the gaffe was caught by a couple of tech sites that the shadow of a professional camera was spotted in the video and a simulated photo. Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) issued a brief apology for misleading viewers of the ad, but has now gone a step further to investigate the situation. One commenter would rather see the company, which has struggled to make profit the last few years, to save the money on the investigation and just send out a direct apology, claim a mea culpa and move on.  While this may affect shares of Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) stock due to how investors might see the company in its desire to make a splash, while some analysts don’t think that this would affect Lumia sales adversely. And perhaps it will be the sales numbers for the Lumia 820 and 920 handsets that may ultimately decide the direction of the stock for investors like hedge-fund manager Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies.