Video Game Ad deemed too bloody

[Signal2Noise]

Quote from article: "Software developer Midway Games said the game was not aimed at children."


...and just who do they think the majority is that buys/receives these types of games?

:shrug:

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by Signal to Noise
Quote from article: "Software developer Midway Games said the game was not aimed at children."


...and just who do they think the majority is that buys/receives these types of games?

:shrug:

ummmm, im not a child, and neither are any of my video game addicted friends.

these games are made for our 20 something generation!

[red_oddity]

AND for kids...any of those game devs telling you it was aimed at an older audience is a lying dog...Offcourse it's aimed at kids...Just another add to get people interrested, 'Wow, i heard they banned an ad for this game', ' Yeah...', 'Must be cool then', 'Yeahhhhh...let's go buy it', 'no..let's rent it and copy it...'

[Signal2Noise]

Exactly!

[kwshipman]

Originally posted by red_oddity
AND for kids...any of those game devs telling you it was aimed at an older audience is a lying dog...Offcourse it's aimed at kids...Just another add to get people interrested, 'Wow, i heard they banned an ad for this game', ' Yeah...', 'Must be cool then', 'Yeahhhhh...let's go buy it', 'no..let's rent it and copy it...'

so I guess that we shouldnt make any game that isnt for people over the age of 5.

[red_oddity]

Offcourse we should...what the heck should i play else?...
Shooters...pah...thats for pussies...Pooh Bear Sketch book...now yer talking....bring it on...

[flipnap]

This isnt about games, its about marketing.. dont go off track

[The Magic Pen]

Video games are the devil .....jesus told me while I was high on crack ..low and behold you will all pay sinners !!! :shame:

[Ckerr812]

heh..The fact that it was talked about on CNN, the fact that this thread people are talking about it. I would say the ad campaign worked exactly like they wanted.

[kwshipman]

Sorry for my previous post, it was a bit childish. Let me try to explain my thoughts in a more mature way.

According to this article:

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0005/12.e3mediabrief.shtml

the average age of a video or computer game player is now 28 years old

and

Children under 18 only represent about 13 percent of video game purchasers

and this article:

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0005/10.gamestats.shtml

61 percent of gamers are aged 18 or older.

Yet we believe that midway is going to spend all of it money to advertize to the minority of game players, Kids!? That is compleatly contradictory to any marketing philosophy.

Why do people assume that companies are all out to get our children. The complaint with this poster is that a disturbing image is was in a place that could bee seen by minors. That doesnt mean that Midway is trying to get them to buy the game.

If you remember back to when you were a kid (am I starting to sound like my parents or what?) it wasnt very hard to convince you that something is cool. and that is all that it took to convince you that the game is cool. Somehow the image of someone wiping their hand on someone else would hardly convince my younger self to want a game. I would need to see what the game looked like and how fun it is to play.

Did they make a bad call on where to place this poster, probably. Does that mean they are targeting kids, probably not.

[eliseu gouveia]

I think the general public got so used over the years to the label ´games are for kids´that they forgot that the same kids would eventually grow up and form the large majority of the videogame consumers.
People who played Pacman and Chuckie Egg are now in their late 20´s/early 30´s and, contrary to the new generation of children who have to moan and crawl all week for their parents to purchase a game, we (yes, I belong to that particular group) can pretty much acquire any game we see on the shelves, should we deem the cover/article/whatever sixtybucksworthy.
If the powers that be wanna blame someone, blame the stores who sell these mature products to underage people.
You don´t see bookshops selling porn to children.
Why?
Because they know better.
Same thing here.

[Astral]

While that might be true

um how does a hooded "YOUTH" wiping his bloody hand apeal to a adult exactly?

come on now... you kinda grow up and leave the hooded baggy teenage look behind.... but hey that's me

[Agent D]

um how does a hooded "YOUTH" wiping his bloody hand apeal to a adult exactly?

I guess it would appeal to an adult's darker and more ironic sense of humor. I haven't seen the ad, so I can't say.

Anyway, I guess it's Britain's call whether they think the advertisement will currupt their children... seems a bit silly to ban a commercial just for some blood.

[flipnap]

The whole point of the controversey is that it is not a responsible choice of imagery. Do we sacrifice what could happen to our kids because adults "get it".. there is a strange mentality that comes along with this thinking.. you end up getting posts like this..

Video games are the devil .....jesus told me while I was high on crack ..low and behold you will all pay sinners !!!


HUH!!!! great, lets exaggerate the WHOLE thing and maybe people wont look at the issue.. lets make it religious and people will laugh it off.. oh you were joking!! im sorry.. i didnt get it.


its like dennis rodman telling parents "Hey, im not a role model, you should watch your children, not me" but thats a half truth.. he IS a role model whether he like it or not, what hes doing is being irresponsible with his power, and for that matter, being very selfish.. Its the same with game companies.. A commercial with a youth wiping a bloody hand down the business suit of a man speaks VERY clearly of intent.. do you really think the mind stops to think about video games when it becomes impregnated with this image.. and again, this isnt about whos selling the game or who wants to buy it.. its about putting this ad into general public domain...Censorship is not the answer.. responsible, preventative advertising is the key...



flip

[bentllama]

:rolleyes:

:annoyed:

[kid tripod]

Originally posted by Agent D
I guess it would appeal to an adult's darker and more ironic sense of humor. I haven't seen the ad, so I can't say.

Anyway, I guess it's Britain's call whether they think the advertisement will currupt their children... seems a bit silly to ban a commercial just for some blood.

We have a far less conservative advertising industry than the US do, and this ad, really did cross the line, partly because it was being used in public places where children could see it. There was a parallel (but dismissed) complaint about it being racist, cos he also happened to be black. Its fair to say that europeans have a far higher level of objection to violence in ads, whereas the americans can't handle any actual mention of sex.

Oddly the previous advert to get banned was a Wrigley's one where a dog jumps out of a guys mouth. The reason it was banned was so many people were pleasantly watching tv, and suddenly it happens. Again, sounds like nothing, but was actually really quite disturbing. It was done by Framestore-CFC, who milked the banning for their own promo efforts really quite well.

[vorlon]

Originally posted by kid tripod
Its fair to say that europeans have a far higher level of objection to violence in ads, whereas the americans can't handle any actual mention of sex.


Ain't that the truth!

American audience in general accept imagery of killing and murder in any form (imaginary or real life war) in any media (TV, movies, Videogames) at any time, but not as accepting of sexual imagery because sexual imagery is 'immoral' and harms children by exposing them to the natural human naked bodies (god forbid we are born without clothes!). I personally rather see naked bodies than violence or mass killing on TV.

[Chewey]

Originally posted by vorlon
Ain't that the truth!

American audience in general accept imagery of killing and murder in any form (imaginary or real life war) in any media (TV, movies, Videogames) at any time, but not as accepting of sexual imagery because sexual imagery is 'immoral' and harms children by exposing them to the natural human naked bodies (god forbid we are born without clothes!). I personally rather see naked bodies than violence or mass killing on TV.

I have to disagree with that assessment of the current state of sexual imagery on the tube here in the states. There's plenty of it once you move off of Nickleodeon and the toon channel. You won't see hard core porn in your face views of genitalia contact of course but there's plenty of sexual imagery. It aint the 50's anymore and sex sells.

[kid tripod]

Originally posted by Chewey
I have to disagree with that assessment of the current state of sexual imagery on the tube here in the states. There's plenty of it once you move off of Nickleodeon and the toon channel. You won't see hard core porn in your face views of genitalia contact of course but there's plenty of sexual imagery. It aint the 50's anymore and sex sells.

You still can't show naked arse (butt) on US tv most of the time. You have those silly censor bar things. We can have that all day. And yes, on kids tv too.

Seriously, you'd be shocked if you saw most of our ads, but largely from the downright surrealism of most of them. The thing is in Europe (largely, and particularly in the UK) you can't bash an opponents product as a means to advertise your own, so they've become stupidly inventive out of necessity. In fact commercials are pretty much top of the pile creatively.

[ragecgi]

I think what he was sayin was that, yes, "Sex sells", ....but NOT as much here in the States.

I personally don't mind seeing sex OR violence on tv. :shrug:
(mainly because my mommy and daddy taught me right from wrong) :)

Also, here in the states, as you said, you gotta have cable to see anything "boobie-like", but in the UK, it's on REGULAR tv! :drool:

hehe...ok, ok, now I'm getting a bit childish.... hehe..

[Chewey]

Originally posted by kid tripod
You still can't show naked arse (butt) on US tv most of the time. You have those silly censor bar things. We can have that all day. And yes, on kids tv too.

snip



wrong, naked butts do get shown. Maybe not with the frequency you prefer but it happens.

Ultimately the quality or so called "level of sophistication" of programming is hardly dependent on the amount of flesh, butts, genitalia or copulation presented on the tube.

bfd.

[Signal2Noise]

Unfortunately, it was David Caruso on NYPD Blue that kicked off the Naked Butt Craze. Blecch!:insane: If there was ever a time for censorship that would would have been a good time to enforce it!

[flipnap]

Like, we're way off topic here but since we have arrived, ill put my two cents.. ive lived in the states my whole life and have recently moved to london.. The programming here on regular tv is crazy.. they censor nothing (cursewords) and nothing from the human body.. ive seen full frontal on regular tv.. like, mtv airs "the osbournes" and every one of ozzies "F's" make it through.. and they show violence too.. they play american movies all the time..

flip

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by flipnap
Like, we're way off topic here but since we have arrived, ill put my two cents.. ive lived in the states my whole life and have recently moved to london.. The programming here on regular tv is crazy.. they censor nothing (cursewords) and nothing from the human body.. ive seen full frontal on regular tv.. like, mtv airs "the osbournes" and every one of ozzies "F's" make it through.. and they show violence too.. they play american movies all the time..

flip

wow, a country that isnt hellbent on censoring anything that may be deemed "offensive" to someone!

i hate censorship with an undying passion!!!!!

[Chewey]

Originally posted by Gentle Fury
snip

i hate censorship with an undying passion!!!!!

Looks like you have a major disconnect with your own sig.:scream:

[DiMENSiON]

Do we really need these kinds of adds? I don't think so, especially where kids are able to access them. Kids, as we all know are easily influenced.

Keep in mind we are living in an age where certain information (you know what kind) is easily accessed through the TV, or internet by anyone. Do you really think this information is necessary? Especially for children? Do you know what kind of sick industries are built around this?

[pearson]

They should have shown the kid doing a fatality on the guy, just ripping his head off with the whole spine still attached! LOL At least that would have had something to do with the game.

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