A New Low in Marketing Ethics
Note: I refuse to label the company that is promoting this in my own writing. Not because I want them to remain anonymous, but because I personally cannot stand to further their advertising. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, refer to the source.
Lately, I've had to deal with a mainstream society that has musicians who don't write their own music, journalists who only care about entertainment while neglecting "boring facts" and politicians using terrorism as an excuse to guzzle down as much oil as possible because we're going to run out in less than 50 years. I do bitch about these things, I really do. But I can always avoid them on some level when I need to. The following though, hit me somewhere hard as I deal with this industry on a regular basis. Hell, I'm an editor at this news site, I should. So here's my new demon...
Brace yourself.
Government brands acclaim irresponsible
Tom Bramwell 08:18 04/10/2002
Just for that you're going straight to bed!
Criterion's PlayStation 2 release of Burnout 2: Point of Impact hits retail on October 11th, and publisher acclaim said on Wednesday that it would refund the fines of any driver caught by speed cameras on that day, to mark the launch and give them a chance to go and spend their hard-earned on speeding in a painless environment.
This latest marketing stunt has been branded irresponsible and dangerous by the government. In a statement made yesterday, the government said that the campaign might lead to excessive speeding and dangerous driving by people who think they can get away with it.
If they want to foot what is likely to be a hefty bill, that is their choice, a Department of Transport spokesman said. But we cannot condone something that so obviously encourages people to break the law and do something dangerous.
The spokesman went on to offer a possible worst-case scenario. Basically they are encouraging people to speed and to break the law. I just hope for their sakes that none of these people ends up knocking down a child, he said.
But acclaim is pleading innocence, arguing that it only wanted to ease the financial pain a bit, and that this is all in the name of promoting the game which gives people a legitimate avenue to speed as fast as inhumanly possible. Taking the side of people who enjoy driving fast, it therefore seemed quite logical to offer people caught by camera something that would make them feel Ok about it, spokesman Shaun White explained.
acclaims marketing stunts are legendary in the industry for their tastelessness and propensity for headline-grabbing controversy, but also for their originality. Recent examples include deadvertising, which saw the publisher bidding for advertising space on tombstones in exchange for help with funeral costs, and Identity Marketing, which saw the publisher buy the right to rename five gamers to Turok for a whole year by deed poll. Both stunts won priceless publicity for the games in question, even if Daily Mail readers were up in arms.
Tom Bramwell 08:18 04/10/2002
Just for that you're going straight to bed!
Criterion's PlayStation 2 release of Burnout 2: Point of Impact hits retail on October 11th, and publisher acclaim said on Wednesday that it would refund the fines of any driver caught by speed cameras on that day, to mark the launch and give them a chance to go and spend their hard-earned on speeding in a painless environment.
This latest marketing stunt has been branded irresponsible and dangerous by the government. In a statement made yesterday, the government said that the campaign might lead to excessive speeding and dangerous driving by people who think they can get away with it.
If they want to foot what is likely to be a hefty bill, that is their choice, a Department of Transport spokesman said. But we cannot condone something that so obviously encourages people to break the law and do something dangerous.
The spokesman went on to offer a possible worst-case scenario. Basically they are encouraging people to speed and to break the law. I just hope for their sakes that none of these people ends up knocking down a child, he said.
But acclaim is pleading innocence, arguing that it only wanted to ease the financial pain a bit, and that this is all in the name of promoting the game which gives people a legitimate avenue to speed as fast as inhumanly possible. Taking the side of people who enjoy driving fast, it therefore seemed quite logical to offer people caught by camera something that would make them feel Ok about it, spokesman Shaun White explained.
acclaims marketing stunts are legendary in the industry for their tastelessness and propensity for headline-grabbing controversy, but also for their originality. Recent examples include deadvertising, which saw the publisher bidding for advertising space on tombstones in exchange for help with funeral costs, and Identity Marketing, which saw the publisher buy the right to rename five gamers to Turok for a whole year by deed poll. Both stunts won priceless publicity for the games in question, even if Daily Mail readers were up in arms.
Source: gameindustry.biz
How in the name of hell is that good advertising? You've heard that "any publicity is good publicity" right? Bull. Unless we've lowered ourselves as a society so much that we can accept these shameless advertising tactics, negative publicity shouldn't work. Just ask yourself how you feel about Enron. and you know what? Those other two campaigns didn't bother me as much. I didn't consider it to be bad or good publicity, I just thought they were stupid in a "shake your head" funny way. You know, like when your buddy bought that copy of Superman 64 on sale for 19.95?
I thought the tombstone advertising was pathetic, but if people were willing to do it and defile a loved one's resting place to cover funeral costs... fine, it really only hurts themselves. I thought the renaming advertising was pathetic, but if people were willing to do it and turn themselves into pawns with really, really lame names... fine, it really only hurts themselves. Now, neither of these had mass appeal, which I'm positive is what the geniuses who thought them up expected. It wasn't the acts that these people were doing that would promote the games but rather the outrageousness of the marketing itself. and how can you deny the amount of news that covered both of these shocking marketing campaigns? In all honesty, you can't. Yes, they're unethical... and that seems to be the way things are sliding these days, but neither was dangerous.
This latest marketing stunt really has brought it all full circle though. Encouraging drivers to speed then repaying their fines. There's only one thing that they forgot about...
THERE'S A GOOD REASON WHY WE HAVE LAWS
They're not there because someone cruel wants to take your hard-earned money away through fines. They're not there because someone's trying to take your fun away. They're in place to protect society. "Hey look! I'm going to get my speeding ticket refunded by the company! Too bad I'm going to be spending the rest of my life in jail for running over that old lady." Speed limits aren't that hard of a concept to comprehend. We all go at a roughly set speed so the chances of something bad happening are decreased. The faster you go (especially in relation to other people on the road), the more those chances increase. I don't think I need to plot a bloody graph. I mean, this is why we play video games in the first place! To escape reality!
In GTA3, I can run people down, steal cars, shoot cops, etc. and in some odd way, it's kind of fun. But it's fun because there are no repercussions, there are no worries and there are certainly no dead people. This goes for any game. Last I checked, I could be a plumber with a water jet attached to my back, but somehow... it just wouldn't be the same. This marketing campaign gives people the impression that you can actually treat life like a video game. This has brought the industry to another low. We're in the middle of trying to overcome the strides and hurdles of turning video games into a respected form of artistic expression. How can this possibly help? The biggest argument for banning violent video games is that they're too realistic and encourage people to act out the violent things that happen in the game. Now they're giving you the opportunity to do something stupid without repercussions. Well guess what, life doesn't work like that.
What scares me is that unlike the other marketing campaigns, I could actually see people taking it seriously and doing it. I mean, look at who it's targeting... testosterone charged guys between the ages of 18 and 24. I've driven in a v12 '86 Jag. Trust me, I know how tempting it can be to speed when you're a testosterone charged guy between the ages of 18 and 24. Can you imagine how tempting it would be if you knew that the fine would be covered? Sure, your record and insurance might be a little tainted, but for some, it'd be worth the risk and incentive. This is why I'm so pissed off this time around. They've gone out and done something that's actually dangerous, not just stupid, perverse or both. and on top of it, the company as a whole seems to be promoting illegal activity. "Taking the side of people who enjoy driving fast" ... are these people you want to be related with your company? That'd be like the NRa having convicted murderers as their spokespeople.
What scares me even more is, these marketing ideas are looked at as being original by the author of the source article. I mean, like I said, they do generate attention, no matter how unethical they are. and I guess they're original, but so was the XFL. It doesn't make it intelligent or right. I'll prove it; I bet I can come up with some really sickening advertising campaigns too!
"Give your miscarriage the same name as our next game, put it on display in your front lawn and we'll pay for your psychiatrist bills for the next month!"
"If you pick a fight with a random person and spray the title of our next game on their body, we'll cover both of your medical expenses and send you a free t-shirt!"
"If you don't buy our next game, we'll post nude photos of our entire programming staff on every forum we can find!"
Hmm... let's just hope that they don't get any ideas...