Comments on General Tsao: Advertising at its best, or one of "those" moments...

HATED that commercial. LOTS.

2010-12-04T09:52:29.635-08:00

HATED that commercial. LOTS.

I love the smell of haterade in the morning (and t...

2010-11-18T10:00:06.164-08:00

I love the smell of haterade in the morning (and thanks for the heads-up :)

you should go read the comments on the 1up.com pag...

2010-11-18T08:52:56.808-08:00

you should go read the comments on the 1up.com page :) (they posted your article)

I think all of you guys need a time out. When you ...

2010-11-17T23:45:17.957-08:00

I think all of you guys need a time out. When you are watching shows with a certain demographic commercials will bound to pop up that you may find distasteful. I hope one day you and others like yourself resist the temptation of pushing your views on everyone else. Instead of flooding the net with your dribble talk to a shrink about your sensitivity.

Thanks Chris! I hope to write more frequently now ...

2010-11-14T08:05:57.508-08:00

Thanks Chris! I hope to write more frequently now that the wee bairn is able to spend more hours of the day with a babysitter :)

To Two Enormous Cats: YES, I think there were many points along the decision-making chain where this should have/could have been caught... I understand Activision is trying to hit a certain demographic, and obviously sporting events like football are a great place to do that. But just because you want to do something and it will have the results you want does not mean it's OK to do that. You make an excellent point about changing the timing of the games; I had not even thought about that as a solution.

Stiill, I agree with you, which is why I made the point about Cialis, etc. R-rated movies promos are often also violent. But I will say that in the several years I've been a parent, it's usually only the video game and military ads that even make me flinch, or get the kids' attention. I'm sure there are exceptions to this but that's my anecdotal observation.

Anecdotal observations, the stuff on which blogs are made :)

I might be missing something, but this doesn't...

2010-11-13T19:17:59.896-08:00

I might be missing something, but this doesn't appear to me to be at all specific to gaming-- I've seen plenty of ads for things other than games that were equally objectionable for kids.

Regarding violence in the media, Violet's so young that I just have to be on 100% DVR mode anyway. She shouldn't watch almost anything on TV. :)

If I may...I would like to take the opposition on ...

2010-11-12T13:19:23.253-08:00

If I may...I would like to take the opposition on this.

I am a 32 year old male, married, no kids... but two enormous cats.

I understand your point...its not so much the content as much as it is the timing that is inappropriate.

I think that we can all agree that the person watching a football game is the same demographic as the person who would buy that game.

To be able to advertise to your demographic, during a time that the viewer has a ridiculously high percent chance of watching that program live and not skipping commercials (because it was DVR'd)... you can't fault Treyarch for wanting to take advantage of that. I actually didn't find that commercial offensive until I read this post...but i do see your point now. That said I also believe the commercial concept is brilliant...a little celebrity heavy, but still brilliant.

But I guess my point is... Shouldn't the blame fall on the fact the NFL makes games an all day affair on Sundays instead of stretching football across Saturday, Sunday and Monday during primetime... when the content of the program and its advertisements would be more suitable?

just asking.

I am a 28 year old married man with no kids. I als...

2010-11-12T11:35:30.684-08:00

I am a 28 year old married man with no kids. I also play games like Call of Duty all the time and can watch pretty violent things without much discomfort.

But I had a similar feeling of 'This seems wrong and disrespectful for TV. Who's going to see this? Whoa, am I old?" when I first the commercial.

It's a cool concept, to be sure, but it seems completely tasteless. Despite the lack of blood, guts or anyone every getting hurt, it still seems way too violent in an odd way.

I really think the vibe comes form many of the 'gamers' faces. The guy on the helicopter's machine gun has the glossed-over eyes of someone entranced in a multiplayer match. Which is probably the point, but also just seems slightly sociopathic given the verisimilitude of the rest of the scene.

Do you remember the Cops N' Robbers ad from early in the 360's life? It was the same concept, but much more delightfully executed. It's a joy and perfectly captures what's great about multiplayer gaming. Where-as the Black Ops ad seems kind of gross.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFqLN-eJ3GM

Glad to see you a post from you!