See Sony's Banned PS3 Advert Right Here
Apocalypse Now meets Clockwork Orange - who said originality was dead!?
A PlayStation 3 advert from the supposedly ‘edgy’ TBWA advertising agency has been banned for frightening the children, the horses, housemaids and other vulnerable people.
The Advertising Standards Authority has taken umbrage with the ad (shown below this news piece for you to make your own mind up about) not because it's quite unoriginal but because it uses images of a knife and gun and therefore breaks industry rules regarding the glamorisation of violence.
The PS3 ad shows a character called Kovac and the words: "Kovac mercenary or misunderstood?"
He appears brandishing a knife alongside a caption with the PS3 tagline "This is living".
The ASA reckons there is an "underlying tone of violence in the ad" which could be seen to condone or glamorise violence and anti-social behaviour.
It is likely that the recent wave of gun and knife-related teens deaths in the United Kingdom will have contributed to the sensitivities of the ASA and those people who complained about the ad.
The ad has already been widely distributed online via popular portals such as Yahoo! and BT internet mail. Yahoo! had asked Sony to provide a toned-down version of the ad.
SPOnG is more baffled about the fact that nobody has suggested banning coked-up Soho ad execs for rehashing old ideas that have been through the wash a thousand times already – and this mish-mash of Apocalypse Now! meets A Clockwork Orange meets Taxi Driver should only really be banned for another reason: mindless lack of imagination.
Sony's diplomatic response this morning is, "We acknowledge the recent ASA ruling in relation to the PlayStation 3 Brand Advertisement and the recommendation contained within."
You can make your own mind up by seeing the ad (as news reporting, mind) at the end of this story.
And before you conspiracy theorists start leaping all over the Forum accusing us of slipping in Sony ads under cover of news: (a) we're stating that it's a crap advert (b) we didn't get penny-one.
The Advertising Standards Authority has taken umbrage with the ad (shown below this news piece for you to make your own mind up about) not because it's quite unoriginal but because it uses images of a knife and gun and therefore breaks industry rules regarding the glamorisation of violence.
The PS3 ad shows a character called Kovac and the words: "Kovac mercenary or misunderstood?"
He appears brandishing a knife alongside a caption with the PS3 tagline "This is living".
The ASA reckons there is an "underlying tone of violence in the ad" which could be seen to condone or glamorise violence and anti-social behaviour.
It is likely that the recent wave of gun and knife-related teens deaths in the United Kingdom will have contributed to the sensitivities of the ASA and those people who complained about the ad.
The ad has already been widely distributed online via popular portals such as Yahoo! and BT internet mail. Yahoo! had asked Sony to provide a toned-down version of the ad.
SPOnG is more baffled about the fact that nobody has suggested banning coked-up Soho ad execs for rehashing old ideas that have been through the wash a thousand times already – and this mish-mash of Apocalypse Now! meets A Clockwork Orange meets Taxi Driver should only really be banned for another reason: mindless lack of imagination.
Sony's diplomatic response this morning is, "We acknowledge the recent ASA ruling in relation to the PlayStation 3 Brand Advertisement and the recommendation contained within."
You can make your own mind up by seeing the ad (as news reporting, mind) at the end of this story.
And before you conspiracy theorists start leaping all over the Forum accusing us of slipping in Sony ads under cover of news: (a) we're stating that it's a crap advert (b) we didn't get penny-one.
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Comments
Joji 8 Aug 2007 13:57
1/2
Yeah, a tone of violence aimed at an older gamer. This overeactionary crap is getting annoying and these ad authorities don't do their jobs properly, clearly bending over to criticism of the brainwashed non gamer.
PreciousRoi 8 Aug 2007 14:39
2/2
I think theres just this pervasive idea that all games are really for kids, no matter what anyone says to the contrary. Which is of course incorrect. However...
If you advertise something targeting 18-25 year olds, its gonna be very effective in attracting the interest of 13-17 year olds...so theres really no 'safe' way to market adult video games, since in the course of marketing something to 13-17 year olds, you are gonna do most of the same stuff...
Look at toy commercials aimed at children...much of the time the children used in the advertisements are a few years older than the actual target audience. So really by certifying something as 18+ you're making it attactive to those immiediately below that age. Unfortunately this theory breaks down among adults, or else we could safely market adult video games to people 35-45 and nail the 18-25 year olds...
If you advertise something targeting 18-25 year olds, its gonna be very effective in attracting the interest of 13-17 year olds...so theres really no 'safe' way to market adult video games, since in the course of marketing something to 13-17 year olds, you are gonna do most of the same stuff...
Look at toy commercials aimed at children...much of the time the children used in the advertisements are a few years older than the actual target audience. So really by certifying something as 18+ you're making it attactive to those immiediately below that age. Unfortunately this theory breaks down among adults, or else we could safely market adult video games to people 35-45 and nail the 18-25 year olds...