You'd think Sony's ad teams would have learned to stay away from needlessly controversial imagery after that whole
"White is coming" PSP debacle or even those
"Take a Running Jump Here" ads, but... they haven't. Check out these Chilean PlayStation 3 ads, which show a modern-day gamer giving a heart transplant to Joan of Arc and a blood transfusion to a Nazi. Yes, Sony has Godwin'd its own advertising. The Nazi in question is supposed to be Erwin Rommel, a highly decorated and respected German field marshal, but it's not like Sony's really riffing on that here, and making an ad with a swastika in it that relies on your audience to know the subtle nuances of WWII history just isn't the smartest move in the world. It's a pretty simple rule: if you make a video game ad with Nazis in it and it's not about shooting the Nazis, you've screwed up. Let's just stick with those
creeptastic Japanese PS3 spots, okay?
P.S.- We'll shut off comments in a heartbeat. Behave yourselves.
[Via
Copyranter]
posted Sep 29th 2009 1:49PM
Who remembers that baby one?
Scary.
Wasn't that a xbox360 add?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqkNPcUMffU
"ooooh, ga ga -- ahahahahahhaha"
wth, man?
My mind must work in other ways than most people's. I love Sony's crazy adverts and just watched that baby one ten times. It's great.
I'm not scared or offended as much as I'm confused. Why would such images prompt me to buy a PS3, or anything?
great commercial! no joke. it had me smiling
Isn't this exactly what ads and marketing is about? Making strange, silly or stupidly controversial ads which gets blogs, like this, talking about them, extending coverage, creating media attention and debates and discussions and suddenly.... Subliminally... The message is passed across.
Anyone can churn out 30 seconds of flashing gameplay images which are watched and forgotten in a blink... But it's the "WTF/Wait a second..." ones that really grip people's attention!
Brilliant I say! Good job Sony!
Just reading the linked 2006 post about the white psp.. makes me really thing.. I miss Ryan Block!
Gdgt.. It just isin't that great (In my opinion, yet I suppose I'll probably get downranked for that, meh.).. and Ryan was such an AWESOME tech Jurno.
@Almo: Yes, marketing is about catching your attention. It's also about making you walk away with an intrigued or good feeling about the product.
Just because it catches your attention does not make it good. Otherwise Sony's next add could be "two girls 1 cup"-ish. :/
That's a bingo!
Is that the way you say it: "That's a bingo?"
You just say "bingo".
Ahhh! BINGO! What fun! But, I digress. Where were we?
I wish this was W@W graphics. Nothing controversial here, imo.
THIS GA|ME BETTER BE ABOUT ZOMBI NAZIS!!!!
CAUSE SHOOTING REGULAR NAZIS IS NOT ENOUGH!!!
Nazi Zombies FTW!
Nazi Zombies FTW! +1
With out nazi there wouldn't be wolfenstein...GO NAZIS!
All fans of Nazi Zombies should see the movie "Dead Snow". Nazi Zombies for the win indeed.
WTF are they on?
I don't fully understand where *this* ad is going. But it seems they aren't aware of the possible problems attached to cultural/ethnic references. Between the "nigerian millionaire" issue in the price drop commercials and now this, they are really digging a PR hole for themselves. I can't even argue for them because I have no idea what would motivate these decisions...
I didn't see the nigerian commercial, but that's a common bit of comedy in today's world... there's nothing offensive about it.
WWII is one of the most common video game themes, and there are major games out today with Nazis in them. Respecting the prowess of Romell in a 'horrified' zombi nurse environment isn't really that bad.
The 'white is coming' was also not offensive at all.
Sony knows that there's a bit of astroturf out there, and whatever they do, they will be bashed for it. So they might as well play it up. An ad like this will be multiplied in impact several times by the free attention they get from MS affiliated websites, such as those owned by Time Warner.
I recall one gaming website put up an expose article about how PS3s were being stolen at gunpoint... when confronted with evidence this happened to 360s more often, the comment threads were locked. Sony can't win that kind of battle, so they take advantage of it. Provide the meat for the astroturfers in a way that helps get Sony's message out.
it means nothing to people who actually have a preference in video games. But what Sony's trying to do with their ads was not to make the argument that their system is better... it was to build public awareness of their brand.
Would I run their PR department this way? Hell no. I think Sony could do a much better job by thinking more short term and communicating their legitimately great system. But Sony's in a very tough field, and I do understand why they would deliberately go for controversy. It's an indictment on our way of life, though.
Gotta agree with Gimboa. This isn't really meant to be offensive, but it's a way for Sony to get more attention.
Love thy enemy?
Soooooooooo.. xbox fanboys love thine ps3?
Wii owners love thine Wii...
what the heck are they even trying to say with this???
I don't know, but keep 'em coming. The weirder the better.
Then again, I'm a huge fan of Tool videos.
im confused by this too, is it for a specific game, like call of duty or battlefield or something?
These figures in history would be dead without the gamers.
It's simple really - Sony's giving us a heads-up on their new payment scheme for the psp go. This is a kind of part-exchange where you can donate blood to nazis to get 50% off or if you donate your heart to sony you can get a 75% discount.
i dont know the exact thought here, but it appears that in both situations the "gamer is giving life to the character"
(sigh) Really? Of all the ideas that could have been floating around you spent money on this?
I believe a lot of Nazis escaped to Chile after WWII, so i am sure it is a common side in there.
This. Argentina, too!
Yea, but I doubt most 90 year old Nazi in Chile are gamers though. Wrong target demographics.
it's the exact opposite, people playing games these days aren't sensitive to world war 2
"it's the exact opposite, people playing games these days aren't sensitive to world war 2"
Neither are ad companies, apparently.
They weren't all sterile when they fled, I'm sure there's plenty of little Hans und Gretel's there, raised by daddy gestapo.
Rommel was part of the conspiracy against Hitler, and Hitler forced him to commit suicide (or else his family and most of the people who had worked for him would also suffer) when he was found out.
Also he was known as one of the few generals who didn't really do anything particularly abusive to POWs and/or randomly kill civilians or people of particular ethnicities. So while he was technically a Nazi he really was kind of a throwback to a time before the Nazis represented the German military.
And anyways there's this Churchill quote:
"He also deserves our respect, because, although a loyal German soldier, he came to hate Hitler and all his works, and took part in the conspiracy to rescue Germany by displacing the maniac and tyrant. For this, he paid the forfeit of his life. In the sombre wars of modern democracy, there is little place for chivalry."
As well as this one:
"We have a very daring and skillful opponent against us, and, may I say across the havoc of war, a great general."
Really if he hadn't been German he'd just be known as one of the best strategists of all time.
Of course the real issue with this ad is that 99.99% of people will not realize that the person in the bed is Rommel.
BTW if you do know who exactly is being resurrected I think the idea of the ad campaign is that you can bring the great warriors of history back to life with the PS3. So other characters they could have used would be people like Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great (although frankly I don't know if anybody would actually get this one either), George Washington, etc.
Maybe in Chile lots of people recognize Rommel for some reason.
I don't believe Rommel was a Nazi, he was a nationalist and fought for his country, not the Nazi ideology. He was in the German military and a respected officer and leader, but never partook of the Nazi party ideology.
See this quote below:
"Nazi party officials in France reported that Rommel extensively and scornfully criticized Nazi incompetence and crimes."
I'm not attempting to remove his affiliation with Nazi Germany, however, it is possible to fight in one's national military without agreeing with the leadership, the national ideology of the time, or even the mission at hand.
As for the ad, I look at it as a gamer striving to keep his game character alive, regardless of their evil intent.
To be fair, Rommel Spent a good part of the war on the other side of the Mediterannean, so he probably wasn't savvy to the more... horrorfying things that were happening in Europe at the time.
@the4thheat
if they make a game about washington they better put nazis in it. possibly colonial nazi hybrids, and at some point they can become zombies/whatever
why?
World War I was started by Internet Rumors...
PS3 has given me a great understanding of history. Great Education.
I know right? I now know that the americans won the whole thing single handedly against zombies and the covenant.
the whole idea is to be shocking to catch your eye and have people talk about it. mission accomplished.
Agreed. Same as that Polish Microsoft photoshop-aroo.
Although, from what I've read, parts of South America were fairly friendly to the former Nazi party officials after WWII...
Ducman...
FocalJet?
I guess this is what happens when you hire 4chan for your marketing campaign.
"P.S.- We'll shut off comments in a heartbeat. Behave yourselves."
In Before Thread Lock :)
Those are the ugliest nurse outfits I have ever seen.
Though the nurses for Joan of Arc aren't too bad, specially the one with the plunging neckline.
Wow Alex, really?
Are these ads for a specific game, or just a general PS3 ad?
These ads are new? How come they are still using the OLD version "PLAYSTATION 3" (in Spiderman font) logo?
rite my same thought
Anyone that thinks Swastikas represent "evil" should get themselves reeducated
It's a symbol that was used(in this form, obviously there's a different orientation that was used to mean peace) as the primary symbol for a government that tried to take over the entire world and gained power based on the message of hatred toward Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and the disabled, before trying to systematically wipe those groups off the face of the planet. Is it really so hard to understand that people would be offended by any possible positive reference to it?
Whatever the meaning was before the Nazi's took it is moot. It is now, and will for a LONG time be in the memory of people there, and people that have learned about WW2, a symbol of evil.
Context can change a definition; get yourself reeducated
You can see swastikas in that pic???? Damn good eyes. I cannot.
Btw, Love the nurse impregnated by a huge clove of garlic.
@larry.nic: Look very carefully at the head of the bed, in the frame. It took me a while to spot too.
The Nazis' message wasn't "hatred toward Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and the disabled" . It was German supremacy over all others , and this included "Jews, homosexuals, gypsies and the disabled" .
A burning cross Doesn't mean "Evil" either, But put it in a certain someones front yard......You get the point.
actually, the swastika of hindu is a symbol for peace and prosparity, notice it is straight up and down, whereas the nazi swastika is slightly askew, as a symbol of the falling of peace and prospairity. all points facing right, a symbol of power (power is always associatied with the right, right hand of God, ect)
@KNG: depends on what kind you're referring to. If you're talking about the one used in Buddhist faith and often referred to as the manji, I'd agree with you. Unfortunately, decades of hatred and bigotry have turned what was once known as the crux grammata into a taboo symbol.
@Sibahi: Not true. They blamed those groups(especially the Jews but it definitely also included the other groups mentioned)for the loss of WWI and claimed that those groups were subverting the German people. They thought themselves superior and used those convenient groups as scapegoats to point to in order to explain why, if they were superior to all others, they still lost WWI. It was hatred of these groups and anger towards them for the subversion of Germany that caused the German people to support the Nazis. Later on, that was shifted towards claiming their "right" to supremacy.
so essentially its become an Internet meme...
the days youre seen as a dancing fat boy you'll never be seen as anything else
...ever again
Gosh!!.... the people who work in marketing these days are seriously talentless! Much less the people who pay and approve their "ingenious work of art"..... Where have all the good talents gone?
good talents are everywhere, we had a lot of sh** in the past and good propaganda as well. with the increase of demand is quite obvious we where going to see all kinds of ads from horrible to amazing. As well as trolls, and all the stuff that ever existed but take more importance with the grow of internet. Don't ignore ALL the work people do by one or a lot of mistakes.
"P.S.- We'll shut off comments in a heartbeat. Behave yourselves."
I'm not really sure what you're alluding to here. The only times I've seen comments shut down were due to bashing of the article writer(Zune 2.0 review) or physical threats(it's happened... don't remember which articles) and I don't see why either would happen here. What exactly are you worried about?
I'm assuming they'd shut down the comments due to a start-up of racist, nazi-sympathetic, or violent comments that could ensue form this story.
@Triscuit: I was thinking the same thing. Hope that doesn't happen.
You probably heard Sony ain't in the politically correct business; they're in the sellin' consoles business, and cousin, business is a-boomin!
This comment makes me love you. I hope you can deal.
You're incredible.
“Each and every man under my command owes me 100 Nazi scalps… And I want my scalps”
They probably should have not used the swastikas in the picture. It would get the point across to the educated just as well without it and the uneducated wouldn't get as fired up.
Especially since Sony is a Japanese company and Japan was an Axis power.
WHAT?
Because Japan was an axis power? That was 60 years ago! Sony and Playstation don't owe you a damn thing just because of something you associate with the modern Japanese 'race'. that's extreme and unfortunate.
MAN.
Also, there are no swastikas in this picture or in this advertisement. Don't believe or spread FUD.
The Japanese have built an amazing country, and the Playstation is one of the many things we can enjoy that has some affiliation with Japan. Except Sony is a worldwide company and all.
Should we expect Microsoft to avoid games with indians in them, because of the trail of tears? Or games with bombs, because of Nagasaki? Or games with fruitloops, because of you?
I just realized the bed has a swastika on it. I was in error on that point, but I stand behind everything I said besides that.
What better way to sell a console than good old controversy? This how you get people talking. You make ads that people want to talk about whether good or bad. I do like the dark theme Sony has been using, but I'm not sure about the Nazi thing. Kind of well, it would not fly in the states that's for sure.
You know what the saddest thing about all of this, associating one of the greatest men of all time with dumb marketing. If anyone knows anything about history, they you know Rommel wanted nothing to do with the Nazi party...hence how he died.
uhm... fighting a war for the nazis means to not want to have anything to do with 'em? well that does seem a bit odd to me...
He was fighting a war for GERMANY.
Rommel is considered to have been a chivalrous and humane officer, in contrast with many other figures of Nazi Germany. His famous Afrikakorps was not accused of any war crimes. Soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been largely treated humanely. Furthermore, he defiantly ignored orders to kill captured Jewish soldiers and civilians out of hand in all theaters of his command.
Late in the war, Rommel joined the conspiracy against Adolf Hitler, but opposed the failed 20 July Plot of 1944 to kill the dictator. Because of his great prestige, Hitler allowed him to commit suicide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel
@2l4te: He fought for germany, not the nazis.
If you did some research you would discover that his Afrika Korps never was accused of any war crimes and that he refused to comply with Hitlers orders to directly execute any captured Allied commandos and Jewish POWs. He also protested against the treatment of the Jews on many occasions and often criticized Nazi incompetence and crimes.
Then the nazis found out that he was involved in the plot against Hitler and he chose to commit suicide to protect his family.
Patton would of kicked his butt.
@MyCroft. Sure thing champ.
this may not be an adver in Germany but I have a feeling they will feel a little sting for Germany.
Sony is a Jananes company, Japan attacket Pearl Harbor, did they at the time support the Nazi?
I can see sonys next advert for there next big game: 2086 Pearl Harbor All Over Again.
only kidding, I am sure it was all in bad tast.
Is there a particular reason you chose the year 2086?
The icing on top is that the dude is all smiles while he's keeping that schmuck alive.
Read up on your history before saying something that makes you look foolish.
Though you would probably think differently if you knew who the guy was. If it is Erwin Rommel then you would know he was involved in the plan assaination of Hitler shortly after committing suicide and mostly humane to his enemies. The other thing is almost all of fps gamers have played as Nazis(giving heart and blood to them metaphorically) which we don't care about. I understand they are blurring the lines here between a life of a gamer and what effect this could have on the general public, but that doesn't allow us to be ignorant of what they are trying to say here.
People should keep this commercial in the scope of the gaming world.
@Ryujin
"The other thing is almost all of fps gamers have played as Nazis"
While that may be true in multiplayer, I haven't seen a single player campaign where you play as a Nazi. In multiplayer, however no one thinks of one of the teams as Nazis, it's more just team A vs. team B, even though they may be playing as a Nazi. It's just a different uniform to distinguish the two teams.
Who is Erwin Rommel "respected" by exactly?
I wouldn't mind giving a transfusion to nursey on the left.
So the gamer is "giving life" to famous historical figures here, which gamers do in certain games. I don't see swasticas but an iron cross. The imagery is arresting and surprisingly disturbing, which might not be smart for an ad campaign. But this is far more artistic than most ads in terms of getting people thinking. I personally enjoy it.
And as a prior poster mentioned - if it gets people talking, it has already been successful.
Not arguing with your main points but the swastika's are at the head of the bed; they're part of the frame.
@Mark absolutely right I missed it. I still like the ads overall but it's plain silly to put in that symbolism. Means too much to too many people. Doesn't seem like a great way to start a marketing campaign.
Just for your or anybody's information. Yes, Erwin Rommel was a member of the National Socialist Party but he was first and foremost a professional soldier. All officers were required to become party members but he had no allegiance to the party itself. Just to say every German or every German in uniform is or was a NAZI under Hitler's government is false. Millions of German soldiers were drafted to serve their country, and many served honorably.