The Infantilising Continues Unabated
Tags: Burnout, censorship, stupid, think of the children
In the U.K., this ad has been banned by the Adverts Council. It was running on the subway tube:
in its ruling, the Advertising Standards Authority said: “We considered that the vivid depiction of the crashed car and burning tyre, combined with the slogans implication that people could achieve inner peace through acts of violence, was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.
“We noted Electronic Arts argument that the ad’s message was that playing the Burnout Dominator game might relieve stress and tension in real life.
“We considered the ad’s placement on the London Underground meant that it would be viewed by many, including young people.
“We considered that the images of a car that seemed to have crashed at high speed and a burning tyre, together with a reference to violence, could be seen to condone a violent lifestyle, anti-social behaviour or dangerous driving. We concluded that the ad was irresponsible.”
We told you this would get worse before it gets better. How preposterous.
2 responses to “The Infantilising Continues Unabated”
As a brit I have to say that our advertising people tend to get these rulings right (Cillet Bang aside). In this case I think that a) the advert is shit and not going to convince me to buy anything and b) in pretty poor taste. I think there would be better ways to go about it. however, I suspect that with a number of these ads they are commissioned on the basis that they will get banned, get press because they get banned, and thus be more successful than if they hadn’t.
We have pretty tough regulations on advertising over here and I for one prefer it that way…
Doesn’t matter if you think the ad is shit or not. This is but another in a continuing snowball of hyper-sensitivity regarding videogames.
I do agree that the British Ad Council tends to get it more right than wrong most of the time, and I wish we had such a council in Canada. But you’ll never convince me that a kid viewing an ad like this will become convinced to drive like an idiot and crash into things. There’s just no research that validates this.
Besides, last I checked, a driver’s license minimum age in the UK is separated from the equivalent of an ‘M’ game rating minimum age by exactly one year.