The first trailer for Exposure – Samsung’s upcoming reality TV show under the Hulu brand, which is part photo competition and part Galaxy S21 Ultra ad, is here. But for a show that Samsung has explicitly paid to highlight the power of the cameras on Samsung’s phones, it’s almost suspicious light on Samsung branding.
If you just gave Exposure a cursory glance (or, more likely, stumbled upon Hulu one night) there’s nothing that immediately betrays its status as Samsung brand content. There’s no Samsung logo on the title card, no mention of the Galaxy S21 Ultra or 108-megapixel camera system, or the various software add-ons that set Samsung’s smartphone apart from the rest.
In fact, Exposure‘s trailer just gives the impression that it is a competition series that focuses on photography, like The Great British Baking Show or Minced meat. Of course, take a closer look and the cracks will start to show. A photo competition without DSLRs or mirrorless cameras? Why doesn’t anyone have a bag full of lenses or a holster with a secondary shooter handy? And yes, I suppose all participants To do seem to be using the same phone now that you mention it.
That’s the point, of course: Exposure after all, is still meant to highlight the S21 Ultra’s camera – even if the trailer doesn’t really push that fact in your face. This makes it either the most subtle and best piece of branded content ever, or the worst.
It is possible that Exposure will lean more heavily on his Samsung pedigree in the actual series itself; reality TV isn’t exactly known for its subtlety, even in the most ordinary of circumstances.
But there’s a chance that the limitations of using only Samsung’s latest smartphone could add some interesting wrinkles to the show. Any trained photographer good enough to make it Exposurelevel can almost certainly take great photos with their own equipment.
But by introducing a common variable (the S21 Ultra’s hardware, for better or for worse), the show can theoretically be about who can best use that particular tool with things like staging, lighting, and editing; Similar to how cooking shows allow participants to work within the constraints of the week’s dish or ingredients, rather than just creating what they feel most comfortable cooking.
We’ll see when Exposure arrives on Hulu on April 26.