Lyris Lite :: More embarassing Nintendo advertising from 2003, plus embarassing Sony advertising from 2006

More embarassing Nintendo advertising from 2003, plus embarassing Sony advertising from 2006

A few days ago, someone showed me some surprisingly unpretentious adverts for the Playstation 2. I say "unpretentious" because I live in the UK, where Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) commission some of the most pretentious artsy-fartsy guff imaginable, to sell their system, and I'm a film student so I would know. So, when I was shown these adverts, I tittered a little at the to-the-point slogan: "Playstation 2: because your girlfriend bores you shitless". I don't have a girlfriend, or a boyfriend for that matter, but I have a short attention span so I'm sure that if I had either or both then they would, indeed, bore me shitless.

This is not the work of SCEE, but instead an advert from India, and it's pissed off the people over at the f-word, a site about feminism (yech, more "ism"s). Contributor Jess McCabe was angry about the advert because she felt it alienated Sony's female fan base, presumably because the incessant chattering of the "girlfriend" in the advert is a stereotype of the annoying person that never shuts the hell up, and happens to be female. I know a few guys that talk like this as well, but never mind. Jess mentions that SCE's "laddish" advertising was one of the reasons why she now relies on Nintendo for her video gaming needs. She'd probably be even more disturbed than I was, then, to find this little blast from the past: a reminder of the era where Nintendo had well and truly lost their way, one that they'd probably like to bury now that they're preaching the benefits of an "expanded audience":

"Game Boy Advance SP: The second best thing to do in the dark". I suppose the first best thing to do in the dark would be to go online and mail order some games better than the ones advertised, but I guess the better SP titles (Mario, I'm looking at you) would be far too un-manly.

Sorry about my scanner being all grubby, I was feeling rugged and manly and greased it up before the image capture. What a terrible advert though, reaching out to horny punters and suggesting that playing a GBA cartridge of "Simpsons Road Rage" or "Bruce Lee" would be the perfect compliment to getting your rocks off. Now that gender-obsessed advertisers have finally caught on to the fact that video games can be enjoyed regardless of whatever variety of genitalia the player is in possession of, it's unlikely we'll be seeing anything like this from Nintendo ever again.

I guess the guy in the advert is some sort of test tube baby. And man, feminazis can honestly go suck a big fat greasy cock. A lot of what they do doesn't seem to be for the best of feminine welfare. Some have the twisted idea that to be "liberated" they either have to be whores, or they have to behave like asshole "Alpha-Males". Then you get the nutjobs who turn EVERYTHING into gender issues. "History should be changed to HERstory!"

And the Sony ad beats the old cryptic ones like "Your girlfriend's whitebits here!"

Meh, I don't mind the PS2 advert that much, but yeah, target-audience a little too specific, wouldn't speak to everyone.

I see Jess is moving from "Playstation to Nintendo". You can't demand to be taken seriously if you can't discern between a product line and a corporation.

I guess Jess has also forgotten the Zelda: Ocarina of Time advert, which was far more blatant (although admittedly, a while back now). Tagline: "Will you save the girl, or play like one?".

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