14 DAY TRIAL // Last week we reported about a quite interesting screenshot of the hit racing game Burnout Paradise which featured an ad for United States Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama. Although the presence of ads in videogames is nothing new, with companies being more and more fond of this kind of practice, a political ad is somewhat of a novelty.
No other candidate ventured out in putting his or her face in videogames for fear of disapproval from the population, but Barrack Obama did just that, in an effort to appeal to the younger demographic.
The screenshot featured an ad about the early voting and mentioned that it was paid by the Obama for President Foundation. Because no response had been issued by Electronic Arts, the company that holds the advertising rights for the game, many thought that the image was fake.
But now, Holly Rockwood from EA confirmed it all. Speaking with GigaOm, she said that the ad was marketed just as any other one from regular companies and that it didn't reflect the political beliefs of EA.
"I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout. Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams." she said.
This move is by far the biggest one a politician has made in marketing his image by means of videogames. We will just have to wait and see if the ad campaign actually pays off when the elections will start. Until then, it may prove a bit risky for the senator because his adversaries can easily turn his campaign against him and accuse him of different things just to tarnish his reputation, seeing as how, because of various scandals, videogames aren't very popular in the eyes of the population.