14 DAY TRIAL // Sony has a history with bad ads. In fact, so does Nintendo (but in an innocent way). Sony's however get banned quite often by authorities. Why do Sony do this to themselves over and over again? The last PS3 ad we saw encouraged crime and violence, while the one in question today apparently did the same thing. Honestly now, it's a video game console...!
According to a piece up on Next-Gen.biz, "A Sony PlayStation 3 internet advert that 'could be deemed to condone or glamorize violence or anti-social behavior' has been banned in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)."
The ASA did accept the fact that Sony aimed it to adult viewers but still, there were complaints against it, so what could they do, other than withdraw the advert and issue Sony with a warning for its future conduct. Why didn't they issue a warning last time...?
"We considered that there was an underlying tone of violence in the ad and we were concerned that the images of Kovac holding the knife and the gun, in conjunction with the text, 'You on my side? Listen up, I've killed for less..." could be seen to glamorize violence or anti-social behavior.
"We asked Sony to amend future internet ads where the content could be seen to glamorize violence or anti-social behavior," said the Advertising Standards Authority.
Of course, I should withdraw something too - my statement from the first paragraph. We live in a crazy, complex and quite sophisticated world, as far as the music, film and video games industries are concerned. What was Sony supposed to do, make a commercial saying: "You know what, the PS3 is so great, you'll s**t your pants playing it?"
No, they knew they had to come up with something radical, something not seen before that would "shock" the viewer a little so it would leave an impression on him which he/she would later associate with the PS3. Of course, there's always the funny and innocent way, but that's for the Wii, he he!