erwin-rommel
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Chilean PS3 ad depicts gamer giving blood to Nazi officer [update]
[Update: Apparently, BBDO Chile created these ads to submit to a number of ad design competitions and festivals, and received no official endorsement or approval from Sony. BBDO Chile's president has issued an apology for the use of Sony's branding without its permission. His full statement can be found after the jump.] Original: Here we go again: A Chilean advertisement for PS3, created by major ad firm BBDO, has become the source of a great deal of controversy for showing a modern day gamer giving a blood transfusion ... to a Nazi! The National Socialist in question is intended to be Erwin Rommel, a German field marshal whose humane treatment of captive soldiers and refusal to kill Jewish civilians made him a fairly respected military figure -- but we doubt the casual observer's initial reaction to the ad goes much further than, "Oh gawd, is that a ... swastika!" Then again, after being accused of promoting racism and endorsing, nay, providing instructions on suicide, accusations of harboring Nazi sympathies is kind of par for the course for Sony's PlayStation advertising. Check out the full advertisement -- as well as a similar, equally perplexing ad depicting a gamer giving his still-beating heart to Joan of Arc -- after the jump. (By the way, we'll be patrolling comments on this post for any invocation of Godwin's Law. Keep it civil, gang.) [Via Engadget]
Chilean PS3 ads show gamer giving blood transfusion to a Nazi
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]
