Sony Apologises for Race-Flare PSP Adverts, Pulls Campaign Extension
Marketing re-think on the record.
Sony Computer Entertainment has pulled the advert it debuted in the Netherlands for its PSP earlier this month. The company has apologised for the campaign, depicting conflict between black and white female models.
Following widespread outcry, SCE issued the following statement:
"We... recognize that people have a wide variety of perceptions about such imagery and we wish to apologize to those who perceived the advert differently to that intended. In future, we will apply greater sensitivity in our selection of campaign imagery, and will take due account of the increasingly global reach of such local adverts, and their potential impact in other countries," said Nick Sharples, Sony's Director of Corporate Communications in Europe today.
But let's analyse that statement. It seems to be saying that because adverts have "increasingly global reach", it is no longer acceptable to use imagery that is perceived as racist! So it's OK as long as there is no chance of being caught... surely that's not what Sony meant to say.
But who exactly has complained about this advert? SPOnG suspect that it's predominantly Birkenstock-wearing white middle-class people. And in our opinion they'd be better targeting their outrage at corporations not for running some fairly second-rate advertising, but instead for refusing to fund better levees, for systematically excluding black people from anything but the lowest-paid and most menial jobs, for discriminating against brown-skinned minorities as 'potential terror threats' and for avoiding taxes so aggressively that the government cuts back on health-care and education in the poorest (black) areas.
And what about the black model in the advert; is she a traitor to her skin colour, or did she maybe not think that it was such a big issue?
Following widespread outcry, SCE issued the following statement:
"We... recognize that people have a wide variety of perceptions about such imagery and we wish to apologize to those who perceived the advert differently to that intended. In future, we will apply greater sensitivity in our selection of campaign imagery, and will take due account of the increasingly global reach of such local adverts, and their potential impact in other countries," said Nick Sharples, Sony's Director of Corporate Communications in Europe today.
But let's analyse that statement. It seems to be saying that because adverts have "increasingly global reach", it is no longer acceptable to use imagery that is perceived as racist! So it's OK as long as there is no chance of being caught... surely that's not what Sony meant to say.
But who exactly has complained about this advert? SPOnG suspect that it's predominantly Birkenstock-wearing white middle-class people. And in our opinion they'd be better targeting their outrage at corporations not for running some fairly second-rate advertising, but instead for refusing to fund better levees, for systematically excluding black people from anything but the lowest-paid and most menial jobs, for discriminating against brown-skinned minorities as 'potential terror threats' and for avoiding taxes so aggressively that the government cuts back on health-care and education in the poorest (black) areas.
And what about the black model in the advert; is she a traitor to her skin colour, or did she maybe not think that it was such a big issue?
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Comments
BlackSpy 13 Jul 2006 10:49
1/15
I'd say your final paragraph there is getting you a little out of your field of expertise.
zoydwheeler 13 Jul 2006 12:06
2/15
Some of SPOnG's best friends are hot, black models
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tyrion 13 Jul 2006 13:22
3/15
I'm glad we now live in a world where the Internet has rendered the most easily offended group the arbiters of good taste in all media in all countries across the globe. We will now no longer have to look at any offensive or challenging images, no matter where we live.
Here are some examples of the offensive adverts we will no longer be exposed to.
We can now hopefully see an end to adverts with the thumbs up gesture since this is the equivalent to the middle finger in Iran and many other middle eastern countries.
Similarly we can see an end to adverts with the diver's OK gesture since this is an obscene insult in Brazil and means homosexual in Ethiopia.
No more adverts with people on sofas relaxing with the soles of their feet or shoes towards the viewer, Thailand, Japan and other countries find this an insult.
No adverts where the models hold things in their left hands, especially not food, since this will offend Muslims.
No adverts with a crooked finger indicating "come here" since this will offend people in the Philippines where it is the gesture for calling a dog to heel.
Or perhaps we could just realise that the adverts were only intended for a country without a huge history of white/black racial tension and the rest of the world should just leave well alone.
Every country has a set of images that are considered offensive or dangerous, most of those sets are not the same as the others. That's why we have local marketing, like these PSP adverts, so that we don't offend people.
Here are some examples of the offensive adverts we will no longer be exposed to.
We can now hopefully see an end to adverts with the thumbs up gesture since this is the equivalent to the middle finger in Iran and many other middle eastern countries.
Similarly we can see an end to adverts with the diver's OK gesture since this is an obscene insult in Brazil and means homosexual in Ethiopia.
No more adverts with people on sofas relaxing with the soles of their feet or shoes towards the viewer, Thailand, Japan and other countries find this an insult.
No adverts where the models hold things in their left hands, especially not food, since this will offend Muslims.
No adverts with a crooked finger indicating "come here" since this will offend people in the Philippines where it is the gesture for calling a dog to heel.
Or perhaps we could just realise that the adverts were only intended for a country without a huge history of white/black racial tension and the rest of the world should just leave well alone.
Every country has a set of images that are considered offensive or dangerous, most of those sets are not the same as the others. That's why we have local marketing, like these PSP adverts, so that we don't offend people.
Ditto 13 Jul 2006 13:24
4/15
Good on Sony for pulling this ad.
hollywooda 13 Jul 2006 16:26
5/15
I Cant believe nobody at the Ad product company didn’t look at this poster & think,.."ummmm, this looks bad?" it's so blatant!, i'm not saying they meant for it to be racist but anyone with half a brain would know it looks well dodgy.
config 13 Jul 2006 16:56
6/15
You mean the final paragraph that is simply opening a debate?
BlackSpy 13 Jul 2006 21:41
7/15
I really meant the last paragraph of content, not the question.
It's all a bit meaningless though really. I don't think the Spong forum is going to add much to race relations, but I don't think it should pretend it might either though.
It's all a bit meaningless though really. I don't think the Spong forum is going to add much to race relations, but I don't think it should pretend it might either though.
DoctorDee 13 Jul 2006 22:35
8/15
BlackSpy wrote:
It's all a bit meaningless though really.
How is it meaningless? Rather than acting all scandalised at this really rather trivial affair, people would do more good to be scandalised by the real and systematic racism that corporations promulgate.
I don't think the Spong forum is going to add much to race relations, but I don't think it should pretend it might either though.
Hold on. If everyone believes that, and resigns themself to it - nothing changes. It's up to each individual to be true to themselves, and to act in the way they feel is appropriate. We're not telling you what you should think, or how you should act, so please don't tell us. And if you want a forum where the discussion sticks firmly to video games, this probably isn't the one for you.
As for us being "out of our field of expertise", I don't think you really know what our field of expertise is.
Dreadknux 13 Jul 2006 22:51
9/15
hollywooda wrote:
I Cant believe nobody at the Ad product company didn’t look at this poster & think,.."ummmm, this looks bad?" it's so blatant!, i'm not saying they meant for it to be racist but anyone with half a brain would know it looks well dodgy.
I think it's safe to say that Sony knew what they were getting themselves into before the advert even began circulating. Sony are notorious for launching advertisement campaigns that border on the un-PC, controversial, or in this case racist.
It is why Sony, in a twisted way, is so good at promoting the PlayStation brand. They work on the 'Any publicity...' side of things, and usually a scandalous and utterly controversial advertisement is much easier (and cheaper) to get space in print and the media than actually paying for advert space. Granted, they usually end up in the Daily Mail because of it, using it as another weapon to "ban the sick filth that is video games", but negative publicity gets as much of a reaction as positive ones. Even more so sometimes, because it's like a 'forbidden' thing to some extent, it's like rebelling. Like buying Mortal Kombat during its controversy in the early 1990s. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony sold more units based on their controversial antics than conventional means.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a Sony ad campaign that was borderline blasphemous using Jesus in some way?
tyrion 14 Jul 2006 08:15
10/15
Svend Joscelyne wrote:
I think it's safe to say that Sony knew what they were getting themselves into before the advert even began circulating. Sony are notorious for launching advertisement campaigns that border on the un-PC, controversial, or in this case racist.
I think that it was an ad targeted at a population. The CIA lists the population of the Netherlands (scroll down to Ethnic Groups) thus;
Dutch 83%, other 17% (of which 9% are non-Western origin mainly Turks, Moroccans, Antilleans, Surinamese, and Indonesians) (1999 est.)
So 9% of the population are of "non-Western" origin, most of whom are not from the sort of African countries that were affected by the slave trade. Compared to the US's 12.9% black the Netherlands has a very small amount of people who may have been offended by the advert.
This is why local advertising is still the best way to go, or you get utterly bland, offend nobody, advertising that can be used globally.
Svend Joscelyne wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a Sony ad campaign that was borderline blasphemous using Jesus in some way?
There was one indeed, a guy looking out of the ad, with a crown of Playstation symbols (cross, square, etc.) with the tag line of "10 years of passion" - Joystiq has a good picture of it.
I think the issue here was that it was used in Italy (only) and put up next to churches. Again, it's targeted at a particular market and this one was certainly going for the shock value.
SPInGSPOnG 14 Jul 2006 08:43
11/15
tyrion wrote:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a Sony ad campaign that was borderline blasphemous using Jesus in some way?
For it to be blasphemous, you have to acknowledge the existence of Jebus, and you have to acknowledge the sanctity of the beliefs of the Christian church.
Clearly, the Christians, the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Sikhs and the Hindus can't ALL be right. And if any of them are wrong, the chances are they are all wrong.
Nothing is blasphemous, and offending foolish superstitious people who believe in magic is hardly a crime against their "human rights".
For Jesus fukcing christs sake, the Repugnicans offend me and all right minded people with almost everything they do. But none of us can claim that it's "blasphemy" because we don't have an army of gullible hate filled murderers to side with us and pretend its a "religion".
OptimusP 14 Jul 2006 09:10
12/15
I don't get this fuss for this poster...where is the bloody racist edge? It's a powerfull poster sure, but to see a racist motive in it you have to be mentally inclined to be unconsciounisly sensitive to anything that features 2 different coloured sentient beings and automatically relate it as racist. Very dangerous mind-set that is.
This is more of a case of people overreacting on the black-white contrast then anything.
This is more of a case of people overreacting on the black-white contrast then anything.
hollywooda 14 Jul 2006 09:26
13/15
http://www.ggl.com/news.php?NewsId=3497
have you seen the full three pictures to the ad? (see link above)...
Come on you cant tell me that those picture aren't done in bad taste? Sony using to races in conflicting & volatile poses, Sony knew just what they where doing when they put these pictures out, stirring up controversy & attracting attention to their product... i just think it's a new low, if this would of been a white & black GUY, this would never of made it out of the meeting room....
have you seen the full three pictures to the ad? (see link above)...
Come on you cant tell me that those picture aren't done in bad taste? Sony using to races in conflicting & volatile poses, Sony knew just what they where doing when they put these pictures out, stirring up controversy & attracting attention to their product... i just think it's a new low, if this would of been a white & black GUY, this would never of made it out of the meeting room....
SPInGSPOnG 14 Jul 2006 11:57
14/15
hollywooda wrote:
Come on you cant tell me that those picture aren't done in bad taste?
Those pictures are not done in bad tase.
See. I can. And i did.
tyrion 14 Jul 2006 12:23
15/15
hollywooda wrote:
have you seen the full three pictures to the ad?
The other two pictures actually balance out the only one that anybody is complaining about. The set of pictures shows a balanced picture (squaring off) and one for each side in a commanding position.
However, the easily offended idiots on the Internet (very few of whom actually live in the Netherlands) jumped on the "white dominant" picture and branded the whole campaign racist. Of course, that is the picture that was supposed to garner the most interest, it is an ad campaign for the white PSP after all.
Now nobody is calling the "black dominant" picture racist, nor are they branding the balanced one as racist. So basically we (and by that I mean the aforementioned blubbering classes of the Internet) are saying that at no time anywhere can anybody use an image that appears to put a white person in a position of power over a black person. However the other way around is OK.
Positive treatment based on race is just as racist as negative treatment. Same with sexism and "creed-ism". If we want equal to mean equal we have to stop being influenced in either direction. Maybe that's easy for me to say because I'm a straight, white British man and have very little to forget or forgive, but we have got to try at some point or things will never get any better.