Explain: iPhone Ad Show People Losing Their Phones On Purpose

Greetings all, as you may have noticed I haven't posted for a while.  We just had a nice long vacation in the Traverse City area, very relaxing!  Now back to all things tech, because I saw this Virgin Mobile commercial while I was vacationing (it was Shark Week, so we watched TV at night with a beautiful sunset view over the bay).

In the commercial, people suddenly realize they need a new iPhone, but they still have their old phones.  So they "oops" lose it, drop it in a blender, get it run over by a car, etc.  Now I've always known that TV advertisers think that we as a public are stupid gits, dumber than a rock.  However, I have to ask you all, please explain the logic in this one?

So you have an old iPhone, or some other phone, and say, "I need a new iPhone."  Is your first thought to destroy or lose your old phone, as if that act alone will get you out of the rest of your contract that made the phone price lower?  Or, let's say you bought the phone outright and didn't sign a contract, so now you totally destroy the resale value of the phone you have now, for what?  You can just go buy the new phone anyhow.  Then you can sell your old one, or donate it to charity, or just give it to that ungrateful teen clamoring for a better phone.

Now let's talk about the impending September 10 Apple Announcement.  Anyone following iPhones probably already knows it is about time for the next one to come out - purportedly the 5S (and an inexpensive version supposed to be called 5C).  I don't know if any iPhone maven is hot to buy a phone right now, when they can wait until October and just get the brand new one, with the new iOS.

So really, who's the idiot - us viewers, or Virgin Mobile (or their ad agency who probably pitched the story line)?