sony under fire for racism

by **Buliwyf** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:03 am

http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/sony-under-fire-for-racist-advertising/

by **SavageParrot** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:09 am

Foible my ass. You do the maths how much free publicity are they likely to get from this stunt?...

by **Darknut** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 10:12 am

It's a terrible ad even if you don't consider it racist.

by **]DP[Nuckle** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:54 am

Yea the ad is not the best in the world. As for the racism piece.... I think we may be being a little too sensitive on this one but hey... I am a white guy so maybe I am not sensitive enough. Who knows.....

Nuck

by **Mugzy** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:05 pm

And now for the rest for the story...

Sony has come to the defense of the controversial ads, telling Gamesindustry.biz, "All of the 100 or so images created for the campaign have been designed to show this contrast in colours of the PSPs , and have no other message or purpose."

by **Tommy Boy** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:49 pm

in context, it is not so bad, but alone, it can be misinterpreted for sure.

Not a great move, although every garbage media outlet in the world will run this story....

by **SavageParrot** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:53 pm

LoL I love how they play the innocent. They knew exactly how the ads would play. In fact I'd lay bets they ran focus groups just to make sure. What annoys me about it is not that the ads may be racist but more that the media still falls for this obvious ploy to get free airtime.

If you don't want to see the ads ignore them and don't buy he product. Going into the press and bitching about it is just gonna make absolutely sure that the ads get seen everywhere.

by B » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:55 pm

Racism....pshhh...something else for someone to bitch about.

by **Padre** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:52 pm

Originally posted by Mugzy

PWN3D!

by Conscious* » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:35 pm

I don't personally see anything wrong with the ads. People are oversensitive.

by **Twister026** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 6:47 pm

Yup, to me just looks like 2 women in a rumble :lol:

but yea , black and white . People be like thats racist!!!

by **PraiseA||ah** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 12:21 am

A picture is worth a thousand words. At first look, yes that picture did appear to be racist. When put into the context of the rest of the pictures, then it makes sense and no longer appears racist.

I did think SONY might be guilty as advertised when I read the article. After all, Japan is a pretty homogeneous and racist place - so I've read and heard. ( I've never been there to experience it first hand and I'm not saying they all are.) I think however, the agency who put the ad together was probably judging it as a whole and not really thinking about the implications when the pictures are judged seperately.

by **SavageParrot** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:44 am

NO NO NO NO NO don't buy into that shit! theY knew how the ad would play THEY KNEW! 100 percent for sure. If they released that ad then they did it for one reason and one reason only, to cynically exploit the expected media outcry for a bit of free publicity. Advertising agencies are no fools and publicity like this is gold. The ads are ambiguos enough that sony will avoid any really bad press but provocative enough to ensure the required outcry.

It's deliberate it's cynical and it's been done a thousand times before. Don't get sucked into thinking it actually matters if the picture is racist. It's enough to know that the advertising agency must have known it would be seen as such and did it anyway. It's their job to know these things...

by **Namloot** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:04 pm

As they say, any publicity is good publicity.

sony under fire for racism

sony under fire for racism

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