Earlier this year, CEO of Apple Tim Cook revealed that the iPhone 5c did not sell as well as Apple had expected it to, placing the blame upon the immediate market-recognition and appeal of the iPhone 5s: “I think the 5s, people are really intrigued with Touch ID. It’s a major feature that has excited people. And I think that associated with the other things that are unique to the 5s, got the 5s to have a significant amount more attention and a higher mix of sales.”

If a recent report from Taiwan is proven to be true, sales of the iPhone 5c could be worse than Apple is letting on. According to Digitimes, some 3 million iPhone 5c units are sitting in warehouses in Taiwan waiting to go to market, but the demand simply isn’t there.

Perhaps it is due to these low sales numbers and the impending release of the iPhone 6 that Apple forsaken its shunning of social media to virally market the iPhone 5c.

Earlier this month, 9to5Mac reported that more and more Tumblr users had mentioned seeing a new ad which seemed to be marketing the iPhone 5c, hosted at isee5c.tumblr.com. The ads feature a background color in the same palette as the choices for the 5c along with the now iconic dots featured on the back of the iPhone 5c case.

Beyond simply creating minimalist art inspired by the iPhone 5c aesthetic design, the ads also feature a brief music tune with a catchphrase at the end, such as “Viva o Carnaval”, “Porte de Lilas”, and “Enjoy the show”.

After doing some investigation, 9to5Mac is fairly confident that it is Apple, and not some Apple fan, that is behind this social media marketing campaign; The ads are popping up as “sponsored” on Tumblr users pages and the source code shows that the videos are being hosted by a Vimeo account with the username MAL – MAL being an acronym for Apple’s advertising agency, Media Arts Lab.

If this wasn’t enough of an indication that iPhone 5c sales are not good, one only need to look at the recent price cuts given to the 5c at Walmart retailers nationwide. If one is to start a new, 2-year contract with the iPhone 5c at Walmart right now, it would only cost $29 – a $16 reduction from the already ridiculously low price of $45.

While Apple is most likely trying to drastically reduce the iPhone 5c inventory before the release of the iPhone 6, the design of the 5c is not going to disappear anytime soon. Recent reports suggest that the aesthetic design of the iPhone 6 will be a hybrid of the iPhone 5c and the 7th generation iPod Nano, keeping the color palette and button configuration of the iPhone 5c and adopting the anodized aluminum construction of the Nano.

Image via Tumblr