giffgaff don’t sell handsets so members have to re-use handsets or buy new ones that are locked to their “original” network. To highlight that unlocking your mobile phone is not illegal, we created the giffgaff Illegal Theater. This showcases Youtube delights of ridiculous, fantastic and mostly idiotic illegal goings-on, presented by a giffgaffer with a cardboard box on his head (we can’t reveal his identity, we saw what happened with The Stig).
We believe that it’s the first use of side-by-side Youtube clips created to tell a single story. The timing of the performances was obviously key. As well as getting the performances to synch, each clip had to be exactly the same length as the original so they could be toggled together by the user. We hope the giffgaff Illegal Theater encourages people to fight the tyranny of big mobile tie ins.
Here are some interesting unlocking tidbits.
There are around 25 million people in the UK who own a locked handset – which means they can’t necessarily move easily to another provider to get a better deal.
The average charge by the big networks to unlock a phone is £17 – meaning that UK consumers would have to pay a staggering £430 million to free their phones.
28% of people think that unlocking their mobile is illegal, which it isn’t, and two thirds of them think that networks should be compelled to provide unlocking information at point of sale.
There is also an Unlockapedia on the giffgaff site – the free guide on how to unlock any mobile phone. The Unlockapedia code for the site was written by one of the members and all members write the reviews and score the providers so it’s completely unbiased.
The giffgaff Illegal Theater was directed by Ben Wilson at Mind’s Eye Media. Thanks Ben.