Sony Responds to Mail on Sunday’s Dead Goat Outrage

Nobody touched the goat and it was returned to the butchers!

Posted by Staff
Sony Responds to Mail on Sunday’s Dead Goat Outrage
You've probably already read today’s earlier news that this weekend’s Mail on Sunday’s anti-videogaming front page headlines screamed “Slaughter: Horror at Sony's depraved promotion stunt with decapitated goat.”

Well, Sony has responded, to outline exactly what happened. In a bizarre statement, which reads almost like something out of a games industry version of Spinal Tap, it seems that Sony wants us to be crystal clear that nobody touched the goat and that it was returned to the butchers intact!

The God of War 2 launch event took place in Athens on 1st March with approximately 20 journalists from European countries attending the event from a variety of gaming and lifestyle media. None of the journalists in attendance were from the UK.

”The article in UK Official PlayStation Magazine (OPSM), from which the Mail on Sunday article was sourced, was written by a journalist who did not attend and done on the basis of the invitation for the event, which employed a degree of hyperbole in order to encourage attendance - the journalist chose to take it as fact!” a Sony spokesman said in a statement just issued.

Sony’s statement continues: ”The photograph was one of many supplied to the magazine to provide a balanced view of the event. Unfortunately, the article was sensationalised and focused on a picture that was unrepresentative of the wider event. When we saw the article for the first time on Thursday of last week we contacted the Publisher of OPSM who accepted that the article was not appropriate for their broad audience. On Friday, before we had received any contact from the media, they agreed to remove the centre page article before the magazine goes on general sale.

”The event was a theatrical dramatisation with a Greek mythological theme and, as part of the set dressing, a dead goat was sourced by the production company from a local butcher. Following the mainstream popularity of shows such as 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here' a series of challenges were set for the journalists. The 'warm entrails' referred to in the invitation and in the Mail on Sunday article was actually a meat soup, made to a traditional Greek recipe and served to attendees in china bowls direct from the caterers. There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat, or indeed eat the soup direct from the body of the goat, as one report has alleged. The goat was returned to the butcher at the end of the event.”

”We recognise that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves. We are conducting an enquiry to establish the circumstances behind the event in order to ensure this does not happen again. We also apologise to anyone offended by the article in the OPSM (subscription copies were sent out ahead of street date).”

Still, Rob Waugh's positive review of God of War 2 which ran inside the paper can't have done Sony too much harm, eh?
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Comments

Joji 30 Apr 2007 14:07
1/7
No such thing as bad press. More stuff blown out of proportion.

Promotion of a game based in ancient greece, where the sacrificing of animals to the gods was common place in day to day life, I guess what the DM readers really need is a history lesson. A goat was sometimes the animal of sacrificial choice.

Nothing to see here (apart from highlighting a superb Sony game), move along.
Andre 30 Apr 2007 16:32
2/7
it doesn't matter if they did it in acient greece or not, that is just cruelty of exposing a dead animal as a exibit, its just really stupid, Sony has gone from bad to worse in taste... i don't think its a matter of history lesson to the journalist but a lesson of basic social taste! nothing really justifies this...
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Ditto 30 Apr 2007 18:17
3/7
Andre wrote:
it doesn't matter if they did it in acient greece or not, that is just cruelty of exposing a dead animal as a exibit, its just really stupid, Sony has gone from bad to worse in taste... i don't think its a matter of history lesson to the journalist but a lesson of basic social taste! nothing really justifies this...


Yes, I totally agree and I'm glad the Daily Mail ran this story.

The fact is it is in very bad taste to use dead animals to publicse a product, especially when the animal is directly on exhibition. It seems to me like Sony knew this would happen and wanted a bit of bad press.

Furthermore, how is this story "anti-videogaming"? It seems anti exhibiting dead animals to me, which as far as I'm concerned is only a good thing.
Andy P 30 Apr 2007 18:28
4/7
Promotion of a game based in ancient greece, where the sacrificing of animals to the gods was common place in day to day life, I guess what the DM readers really need is a history lesson


Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.... so next time someone makes a game about the Second World War, you think it'd be OK to gas anyone who turns up to the launch party who is Jewish? Because that's what happened in history!

As it happens I don't have a problem with dead goats - I eat meat, and meat comes from dead animals. I just can't believe no-one at Sony or OPSM or the launch party thought, "hang on a minute, I wonder if there's anyone out there that might think this to be in poor taste...?"
Joji 30 Apr 2007 19:06
5/7
Lol. So are you saying its okay to show animals paraded alive, such as dog shows etc (which are really annoying), but to show or use a dead one, be it a taxidermy model or just recently deceased is wrong? Mixed feelings are accepted though. Part of this kind of thing is art in its own way, bad PR or not. Supposed to its all about how we see life and death too. Ancient Greeks had a different view.

Fact of the matter is we hold animals in such high regard, that to see them dead, we feel the need to get touchy feely about it, yet when we go to McDs or a friends BBQ, we don't give a fook where the meat came from. That in turn cuts us off from death and how fragile life really is. We don't celebrete death as part of life either (only at easter)

This is a coup for Sony on another level too. Kratos quest from violent mortal to god of war, also tells of a chap bored with his existence to a degree, he seeks something greater, even if it means his life ending.

It's all about life, death and everything in between. I'd be more worried if the goat was actually still alive and sedated for the event. Then, you guys would have a great arguement.
Cluey 30 Apr 2007 19:23
6/7
It's a goat. It was already dead. I bet the Mail readers have no qualms about Leather or Sunday roast. Yet as this is to do with a popular medium it becomes a big thing?

The Mail is very good at blowing things out of proportion. If you lived in the UK you'd know this.
Bob Fossil 30 Apr 2007 19:25
7/7
Adam M wrote:
Furthermore, how is this story "anti-videogaming"? It seems anti exhibiting dead animals to me, which as far as I'm concerned is only a good thing.


Clearly it was misjudged. However, let's not loose focus here. It was 'anti videogaming' because:

1.If it was a music/fashion industry story MoS journalist's would not bat an eyelid, let alone make it front page news.

2.It went on to mention other major videogame 'controversies' - namely Manhunt and Rule of Rose... which, as far as I remember, were 'made up by the Daily Mail controversies'

3.There are thousands of VALID news stories that do not get the paper's readers attention this week... (hell, thousands of more valid celeb stories that don't!) - proper news/celeb stories that should make the front page of a mid market Sunday tabloid... but the fact that the editor chose THIS ONE and then spun it into an example of the 'sick videogame industry that kills goats for fun'

Personally I'm a vegetarian and I'm anti-battery farming and I don't like cruelty to animals. But this is a story about a party to celebrate a game where the company involved bought a f**king goat from the butchers to make it seem more like ancient Greece. It's in no way worthy of national news coverage. The Mail on Sunday is a joke. This story exposes them as such. End of.
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