EK Releases Limited Edition Memorial Day Star-Spangled Velocity Water Block

[Daisho11]

LMAO. Imagine the level of Trump derangement syndrome you have to have to immediately think "alt-right authoritarian" when you see something resembling the American flag. SAD!

 

[Decryptor009]

@Dimi
Do you mind.. i am a millennial and an asshole, but one does not = the other.

The generational thing always made me laugh because it is from America mostly that this view comes from with "generations" liking to box everyone into a group for their simple and unintelligent thinking.

I am not saying you are stupid at all, i am saying you could improve however.

Much like this block.. i don't understand patriotism on products... it just screams arrogance in it's extreme and blind trust.
But that is me.. an asshole anyway

It’s tacky and not for me but at least they are donating the extra proceeds to that organization for disabled veterans and first responders - it looks like $100 donated per purchase.

This is very nice indeed.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I think what EK is doing overall is absolutely FANTASTIC!

Spoiler

I'm also a big supporter of Veterans affairs and a political activist and as much as I love what EK is doing here I simply wish it wasn't needed.
When we decide to go to war we never count the cost of our soldiers and their lives they get left on the side in hopes of charity...it's a disgrace

 

[Keullo-e]

Looks nice, but yeah, too pricey. I paid less for my whole loop.

It's just the flag... chillout people... the flag holds no sides...

Exactly. I have an USA flag on my wall just because I like the flag. I have also the flags of both Koreas, also because they look cool.

 

[Valantar]

Ew. Tacky. Though I guess that appeals to a certain demographic. But still: ew.

 

[Caring1]

It’s tacky and not for me but at least they are donating the extra proceeds to that organization for disabled veterans and first responders - it looks like $100 donated per purchase.

They're not donating a cent, they are making the paying customers donate, and they are still profiteering.

 

[the54thvoid]

I'm not impressed - I'll never buy a block from EK again....






...that's because I've left water cooling behind.

But, as much as I don't like blind patriotism - a flag isn't a patriot - it's a symbol that doesn't pick sides. Though it does seem a little opportunistic from EK.

 

[Mussels]

Man this threads a shitshow, love it.

Freedom isnt free

The "dumb" is. Also your name is super funny right now.

 

[CheapMeat]

I really want it. But can't afford it currently. Such is life. =(

 

[Steamroller]

It's not a sticker.

 

[Vayra86]

Put flag, add charity, profit.

Man, people are dumb

I'm not impressed - I'll never buy a block from EK again....






...that's because I've left water cooling behind.

But, as much as I don't like blind patriotism - a flag isn't a patriot - it's a symbol that doesn't pick sides. Though it does seem a little opportunistic from EK.

That avatar though.

 

[Haile Selassie]

They're not donating a cent, they are making the paying customers donate, and they are still profiteering.

Lol exactly. They're overcharging for the same product as before and having PAYING customer donate money. It's not like they're giving away from their end.

Besides it is tacky as hell.

Oh and the biggest irony - east european vendor with half of the parts made in China, flying an American flag? Disgusting and disingenuous!

 

[Turmania]

Ohh EK now China will ban you....

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I'm not American so please advise.

Doesn't the stark lack of actual star's and stripes bother you, I mean there's more than 9 states still right?.

 

[damric]

As an actual disabled vet, I am always offended by these "charities" milking our name for sales. Just give us the standard 10% off like they do at Lowe's hardware and it keeps us happy. A clip of 1 or 2 lucky lottery winning vet just pisses off the remaining 5 million of us in the USA. Putting a flag on a waterblock definitely makes me think of some creepy 1930s era nationalism.

 

[Assimilator]

Lol exactly. They're overcharging for the same product as before and having PAYING customer donate money. It's not like they're giving away from their end.

Besides it is tacky as hell.

Oh and the biggest irony - east european vendor with half of the parts made in China, flying an American flag? Disgusting and disingenuous!

Au contraire; nothing is more American than maximum profits. Capitalism, f**k yeah!

 

[Dave65]

A sticker wouldnt look as good either.

I dunno, i've seen some great looking stickers.

 

[Haile Selassie]

As an actual disabled vet, I am always offended by these "charities" milking our name for sales. Just give us the standard 10% off like they do at Lowe's hardware and it keeps us happy. A clip of 1 or 2 lucky lottery winning vet just pisses off the remaining 5 million of us in the USA. Putting a flag on a waterblock definitely makes me think of some creepy 1930s era nationalism.

Agreed. Also, thank you for your service, sir.

 

[MDWiley]

EK’s pricing has been extremely obnoxious and consumer-hostile. If this were a magnitude block the $250 might be barely justifiable, but it’s a velocity block with $150 slapped on. It’s like they’re trying to condition customers to think $200+ is acceptable.

 

[Steamroller]

As an actual disabled vet, I am always offended by these "charities" milking our name for sales. Just give us the standard 10% off like they do at Lowe's hardware and it keeps us happy. A clip of 1 or 2 lucky lottery winning vet just pisses off the remaining 5 million of us in the USA. Putting a flag on a waterblock definitely makes me think of some creepy 1930s era nationalism.

Its interesting that an actually disabled vet is on board the whole thing and he thinks its a great cause. If all off the blocks sell, his charity organization which donates 2 PC a month to other disabled vets, will get $20k to fund his projects.

 

[Valantar]

Its interesting that an actually disabled vet is on board the whole thing and he thinks its a great cause. If all off the blocks sell, his charity organization which donates 2 PC a month to other disabled vets, will get $20k to fund his projects.

So as with pretty much all charity-linked marketing campaigns, this singles out a few lucky winners (who obviously receive something of value, not to be ignored, but it's still a tiny amount) and mostly serves to make the company look good while they're raking in profits. I mean, they already charge a €50 premium for their two-tone "strike" CPU blocks over the single-color ones for what is likely a negligible cost increase if there is any at all. This just takes that price and adds a $100 charitable donation on top. I would also not at all be surprised if this came with some sort of tax rebate to the company, further increasing their profits. Let's be real: if their goal was to actually help people, they would just donate money and leave it at that. This is a pure PR move, costing them absolutely nothing (designing that "not a sticker" sticker likely took a few hours at most and is more than swallowed up by the aforementioned €50 premium built into the price), earning them goodwill from "patriotic" people in the US, and likely increasing their profits even if they make zero additional sales from this.

 

[Steamroller]

Actually there is no rebate for increasing profit, I don't know from where are you coming up with this stuff. A sold item is a sold item and 20% of it goes to the government. If you sell more, you will get taxed more. So actually EK is having less profit on the Honor block as it is on the Strike block, by 20%. It's strange how people try so hard to find some negative points when the cause is really nothing but positive. No one is forcing you to buy the block, but if you do, $100 will be donated. It's the same as you bought the Strike, and donated 100$ yourself.
I would just wait for some feedback from the people who bought the block so that they can actually confirm is it a "sticker" or a high-quality print directly on the material.

 

[Valantar]

Actually there is no rebate for increasing profit, I don't know from where are you coming up with this stuff. A sold item is a sold item and 20% of it goes to the government. If you sell more, you will get taxed more. So actually EK is having less profit on the Honor block as it is on the Strike block, by 20%. It's strange how people try so hard to find some negative points when the cause is really nothing but positive. No one is forcing you to buy the block, but if you do, $100 will be donated. It's the same as you bought the Strike, and donated 100$ yourself.
I would just wait for some feedback from the people who bought the block so that they can actually confirm is it a "sticker" or a high-quality print directly on the material.

You need to work on your reading comprehension. I said that this - as in running a PR campaign donating up to US$20k to charity - might lead to a tax rebate, not that an increase in revenue would. Charitable donations are very often tax deductible, after all. As for what you're saying, there's no VAT on sales in the US (though some states have sales tax). And while it's of course possible that these blocks sell outside of the US, it's likely that the majority will sell to the US. It might very well be that business revenue is taxed 20% in Slovenia (or the US if sales are handled through a US subsidiary), but any increase in taxable revenue (which is of course subject to all kinds of other deductions as well) is likely more than offset by the donation when you're talking such a small quantity.

As for trying hard to find something negative: this is an extremely well established PR tactic, there is really no need to look for anything - it's blindingly obvious. This costs EK nothing, yet they (rather than their customers, who are the ones paying for this) get a reputation boost. Is that a sleazy tactic? Obviously! If I convinced you to give $100 to whatever charity I wanted, then I took the credit for that and announced how awesome a person I was for "donating" that money, wouldn't I be an asshole? Yes I would. If they actually wanted to do something charitable, they could for example: a) make a donation from their own money, b) run a donation-matching campaign where customers can opt to add a donation to their purchase and EK then matches this (up to a limit), c) donate a portion of proceeds from a given product line or all sales without increasing prices, or any other solution where customers don't end up being the ones making the entirety of the donation. Yet they chose to go for the solution where they don't contribute anything themselves. This is pure PR, masquerading as charity.

Edit: Oh, as for whether this is a sticker or a "high quality print" - does it matter? Printing onto metal is cheap and trivial. Go to any run-of-the-mill print shop you like and you can have any image you want printed onto large aluminium plates. While printing onto a small 3D metal shape is of course more complex than printing onto large sheet metal, the principle is the same, and the methods are likely near identical.

 

[Steamroller]

EK is form Slovenia, you idiot. If they sell something they have to pay tax for it regardless if they will donate in the US.
I didn't even read the rest you wrote since clearly you have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[Valantar]

... So you didn't read my post at all then? You know, the one where I explicitly covered how where the sale happens and which tax jurisdiction it falls under is irrelevant? In bout six sentences covering both the US and Slovenia? Who says there are no tax deductions for charity in Slovenia? Also, reported for your inability to keep a basic civil tone.