May 1, 2007 -
Sony has made a name for itself in recent years with edgy marketing campaigns featuring the likes of grafitti, racial overtones and offbeat subway ads. A dead goat used to promote the release of God of War II is the PlayStation 3 producer's lastest advertising controversy.The widely-reported event has now attracted the attention of British Labor MP Keith Vaz. A frequent critic of video game violence, Vaz is quoted on the goat affair by the Evening Standard:
The slaughter of animals is not something that should be done to advertise a product. Sony as a global entertainment company has a social responsibility. At this event it failed in that responsibility. I think people should think very carefully before bringing games like this into their homes. I would understand if customers wanted to boycott other Sony products such as their televisions because of this controversy.
Sony is likely bracing for fallout from animal rights organizations as well.
Comments
People need to learn to shut their mouths sometimes. Enforcing their opinions on others.
Now I will not buy a television or DVD player!
Please think of the goats! Boycot the goat killers!
Seriously, I think it was in bad taste (but since it's Sony thats a given)
but the goat would have been dead by now by any means.
It doesn't matter to the goat if it gets eaten or just displayed...
That said, Vaz is obviously using this as yet another arguing point (seriously no one listens to him over here) and his suggestion we all boycott other Sony products is hilarious.
Sure, people have killed goats before. And yeah, this is based as an "accurate" reinactment of an ancient greek tradition. And sure, this goat was pre-killed/bought at a butcher. All things that help to legitimize this.
But come on. This is an industry underfire, legitimate and otherwise. Depicting gore in a festive manor, in real life, around cameras, really isn't the best PR move a company can make.
Sure, hopefully once the gamers at large become the company owners politicians, lobbyists, and sensational journalists of the future, this sort of thing won't even matter. But currently, aside from the socially unaccreddited gamers and indy game press (sad as that null status of credit may be), so few people of mainstream influence are going to bat for the game culture. Without the earnest backing of these companys that we end up so loyal too, gamers are unfortunately coming off a hot headed sheep, supporting a level of implied animal cruelty that some rabid and infulential ideologies find gross.
But, Sony sure can throw mean party.
But I will say this, I think any company that used a dead animal to advertise a non-dead-animal related product should expect an outcry like this. It shows that Sony remains tone-deaf (and wasteful, come on, did God Of War 2 need an outrageous publicity push? It's critically beloved and a top seller).
So I'm left shaking my head at the people who are making a big deal about this. And I'm shaking my head that Sony hasn't fired their marketing idiots yet.
The thing is, this is blown a bit out of propotion. The fact is, Sony didn't kill the goat for the event, they bought the goat from a butcher after it was already dead. In other words, its a goat that was dead and about to be chopped up and sold as food. Really, this is extremly poor taste what they did, but not really all that horrible...
Grant it, it was also pointless in that God of War 2 really doesn't need such advertising... the game is awsome and sells itself.
So, thank Zeus that Sony (mock) sacrificed a goat, because I had NO IDEA God of War II was being released ...
... because I live in a cave on Mars, and I spend my days with my eyes shut and with my fingers stuck in my ears.
"I think any company that used a dead animal to advertise a non-dead-animal related product should expect an outcry like this."
From the looks of things, they were trying to do an "authentic" ancient Greek-style party.
"The Sony spokesman said the animal had not been slaughtered for the event but had been bought from a local butcher by the Greek company hired to stage the event.
What purported to be warm intestines was actually warm offal."
Gosh! Next thing you know, blood sausage will be declared sick and depraved!
1. this didn't happen in the US it happened in Greece I believe. Where noone is throwing a fit
2. they got the goat already dead from a local butcher.
3. the goat was returned after the stunt and was cut up for food.
4. Didn't this happen a couple months ago?
Where's the controversy? Mythbusters blows up dead pigs on TV every weekend they dont bitch about them.
How do you know that "for the most part, gamers liked it"?
But im not going to boycott Sony over soemthing there stupid PR did.
Oh and i have to say, first thing i said when i saw this headline - "Oh god, not him!"
This goat was not killed to advertise the game. It was killed for food, used in a mock sacrifical ceremony, and supposedly not wasted.
Sony went out to a Butcher to "rent" an already dead goat. It was not killed because Sony told someone to do it for them. The goat was dead whether or not Sony did this.
That said, it was still in poor taste.
MP Keith Vaz is stupider (see his comments about GTA, Manhunt, Bully, etc.)
God of War II will be a bestseller regardless.
"Killing an animal for food is one thing, but killing to advertise a game is another."
It wasn't killed to advertise a game. It was killed for food, but between the actual killing and the actual food preparation, the corpse was "borrowed" to act as a container for offal.
No worse than using an emptied turkey corpse to house stuffing in a decorative fashion.
As for other people's disgust at the beheading & blood, gawd forbid you people ever set foot in a slaughterhouse. Swallow your stomach, and learn what actually happens to meat before it gets to your plate.
"Who is this guy to tell others how to act? This stunt was for the GAMERS, and for the most part, gamers liked it. So what the hell is the problem?
People need to learn to shut their mouths sometimes. Enforcing their opinions on others."
Reactionary, loudmouthed, and ignorant.
Who are you to tell him what to do? Maybe he likes to voice his opinion. That's just his thing. Don't judge him. Just kidding, but think about that for a second.
I can't stand it when someone voices his opinion and the kneejerk relativists start screaming, "DON'T FORCE YOUR OPINION ON ME!!! YOU ARE LITERALLY CRAMMING IT DOWN MY THROAT!!!" If we didn't have people openly voicing their opinions and concerns, we wouldn't get anywhere. Congress would just sit around all day and play Solitaire on their laptops. Police would roll around in the squad cars, not bothering any criminals because, you know, God forbid they should enforce their views on someone who disagrees.
That might not be what you meant, but you have to think about the ramifications of your opinion to such an extent.
Actually, I think maybe Sony PR finally got one right. Aside from some ethical vegans hardcore PETA activists, who can really claim offense at a reenactment of a ritual so deeply ingrained in Western culture (and so appropriate to the product it was promoting)? Compared to the religious backlash of the Jesus ads, the perceived racial overtones of the PSP white ads, the illegal defacing of private property with the graffiti campaign, and the breach of fanboi trust in the "All I Want for Christmas is a PSP" video, I think Sony's done well to stir up this much attention with a simple, straightforward Bacchanalia reenactment.
Also, I find suggestions that 'God of War II did not need more marketing' to sort of miss one of the main points of marketing. Should we also expect not to see any big Halo 3 promotions this fall, since the game is sure to sell well without them? It seems to me, sometimes marketing is about striking when the iron is hot, and the more awareness raised about God of War now, the more valuable the IP becomes for future releases.
Was it ethical? Well, that's for each person to decide.
And I’m shaking my head that Sony hasn’t fired their marketing idiots yet.
That's the first reaction I had: another failed marketing campaign for Sony. I kind of feel bad for them, they can do no right lately.
I just hope PETA will stay out of it, bad enough they tried to use the Wii as a recruitment tool.
"I was curious to think that the UK at large may be especially animal-friendly, compared to other nations."
See today's news. The UK has a high percentage of "eco-terrorists" when it comes to treatment of animals. This would imply they've also got a higher percentage of people who are offended by the mere concept of killing an animal, humanely or not.
@xzero87
"Although I don’t see what exactly a dead goat has to do with a video game (yes, I know the ancient Greeks used animal sacrifice as a form of worship, but still)"
That's exactly it though. Sony was hosting an "ancient-Greek" themed party, to help promote the game. No different than hosting a NASCAR party to promote a NASCAR racing game, or having sword-fighting elves at a LOTR-themed launch.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,2069708,00.html
But I rate this stunt to be about as stupid as the kid who wrote that stupid sarcastic letter to John Bruce recently.
And John Bruce's stupid reaction (it wasn't an overreaction because he KNEW in what context it was sent) to have the kid arrested is equal to the stupid reaction of the MP, because there is no doubt that he knew the whole truth but, like John Bruce, wanted to use such stupid stunts to misinform, lie to, and deceive the uninformed populace.
Whaddya expect from massacre chasers and tragedy abusers?
Nightwng2000
NW2K Software
Tacky, overblown promotional stunt? Check.
Tacky, overblown knee-jerk media reaction? Check.
Business as usual, nothing to see here, move along.
I prefer to boycott them over their shoddy products and their general crapping all over their customer base instead. I think that's a much better reason.
So, wait, does Vaz think the game is about killing goats? Or, by "games like this," does he mean ones which use mock sacrifices for PR?
BTW, typo in the post. It's Labour, not Labor. Well, umm, maybe not a typo, per se, but it's a proper noun and stuff, so the spelling probably shouldn't be fixed when it crosses the pond.
You people from the UK make such a fuss over a for food animal being borrowed for a publicity stunt and then being taken back to the shop to be sold as food, yet you don't have a problem slaughtering and burning thousands of sheep, cattle and dear when a small outbreak of hoof and mouth disease is reported.
I think the PR thing was in poor taste, but it was done to be out of the ordinary. They wanted a big reaction and got it. So they did thier job. This comes from GTA: SA. After Hot Coffee T2 sold more copies than ever. Sony is just trying to do something similar on purpose but without impacting the game itself.
This is just Vazzy boy getting on his hobby horse, do what we do here, ignore him.
sony = stupid
Nothing like people taking news for the sensationalist tabloid that is the Daily Mail. I'm not even in the UK and I know their reputation from what I've read by them and about them. Remember, they're the idiots that really brought the Manhunt thing to attention with their false information.
No. This is SPARTAAAAA!!!!! (kicks into well)
sorry couldn't resist
I am old *sigh* but she looks "young enough to be my daughter." When I first saw it, I thought the notion of topless teen servers at a million-dollar toga party would turn out to be far more controversial than any fake goat sacrifice could ever hope to be.
But then I remembered that I live in the U.S., where sex can be better bait for culture police than violence. With that, and a slightly improved understanding of the significance of "animal rights" in U.K. culture, it made more sense to me that 'goat murder' is the button Vaz would choose to mash.