1 - Commodore Is Awesome

1111•1•
known for using shock tactics to
get attention for its products.
0 he
However,
advertising
over the
industry
last few
is
years
well
we've seen the approach turn from the slightly
risque to the downright base. From the
funny to the plain insensitive. And it seems
strange that the computer games industry has
fallen prey to this new strategy more than any
other, Especially as it's only games we're selling
here and not some life or death commodity.
Games publishers are vigorously pursuing
the trend of trying to out-shock the
other as they leap across the undrawn line of
what is socially acceptable.
Consider, for example, the extreme measures
taken to advertise Doom, where bags of
offal were sent to the media, It shocked and
even horrified, but it achieved its desired
effect It got the game plenty of publicity and
as the phrase goes: 'Any publicity is good
publicity'. This little stunt would not get
ignored and thrown in the bin along with the
other countless press releases jaded journalists
receive on a Monday morning.
And to some extent, it's easy to see why
software publishers want to resort to such
tactics. The games market has seen rapid
change - it's no longer an area reserved for
spotty teenagers shut away in darkened
rooms playing RPGs. These people are being
rapidly replaced by 'cool' exec types looking
for a way to unwind. Twenty-something,
upwardly mobiles who are being told that it's
acceptable, even fashionable, to want the latest
gore-fest computer game. So the
industry had to reappraise its position
and gear the market more towards this
new generation of gamesplayers with
fashionable adverts. And fashionable at the
moment equals shock tactics.
So along come the ads men with their latest
project, a 3-D shoot-em-up, 'Blood, guns
massacre hell - the revenge', and they choose
to advertise it with pictures of Dunblane. Its
shocking isn't it? Fortunately this is not going
to happen because it crosses the line of any
sane person's moral values, but where do the
ads men draw the line? Pictures of a woman
hanging herself because she was sick of football
was considered an appropriate way to
advertise a football game. So too were the
images used to promote Command and
8
The AC team
EDITOR
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Conquer, one of which depicted Hitler with
the caption: 'It's a great feeling'. Why is this
more acceptable than a picture of Thomas
Hamilton? Maybe because it will upset less
people or because they think it is less relevant
to the generation they are talking to?
Who knows?
Its a matter that is concerning the
Advertising Standards Authority too.
ELSPA (the European Leisure
Software Publisher's Association)
- backed the ASA up with a plea for the
industry to take a more responsible
approach. Whether this will be heeded is
down to the publishers, but if they fail to toe
the line they could see the Government taking
action and imposing restrictions.
This could have harmful effects on an
industry which is already under the watchful
eye of the media and cautious parents. If the
trend continues, people could clamp down
on what their children buy just on the basis of
the advertising campaign. And although the
market has changed to see more gamesplayers
over the age of 18, a vast percentage are
still minors whose buying decisions lie with a
I
1 Has games a vertising
'gone too tar?
guardian. The danger is that although you've
l
f
r
Pt tnted and bound by Dtirtektt Webb OfeseE
(Maidt )
-
rone)
L t
d
managed to generate some publicity for a
game, it's at the cost of offending people so
much that they don't want your product anyway.
The games industry is a fun market, and
we wouldn't want it any other way, but if all
outsiders can see are tasteless adverts, what
kind of message are we giving? A shocking
advert at the moment would be one that
stressed how good the gameplay is! Nobody
is saying that advertising campaigns will be
any easier if this responsible approach is
undertaken, but it could show that, like its
gamesplayers, the industry has grown up too.
LAT;_oLc-tcx_cki=L
--
Tina Hackett
Editor
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