Sony's racially charged PSP ad

[Barashin]

Sony's racially charged PSP ad
Source: joystiq.com

We've decided to run ad critic early this week after this one landed on our doorsteps. The latest in a long line of questionable marketing decisions by Sony, this ad -- gracing the streets of Amsterdam and the Dutch PSP site -- promotes the upcoming white PSP with the racially charged image of a white woman grabbing a black woman's face. Other images on the website (embedded after the break) offer additional avenues of interpretation.

While we think it's hardly debatable that the ad is offensive (debate ensues), why would Sony -- and their "disruptive" advertising partners at TBWA -- think this ad appropriate? Any Dutch readers care to offer a regional point-of-view on local racial mores? Any black readers, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere, want to offer your initial reactions to the image? Perhaps most importantly (this is an advertisement after all), will this fulfill the contention that generating word-of-mouth is the metric by which to gauge the success of an ad, no matter the method?

Please keep the debate friendly, respectful, and well-mannered. It is possible to express your opinion
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Wow, I don't know about you but that's messed up :sly:

 

[Ragna "D" BloodEdge]

Oh, boy...

 

[Bouken Black]

Huey says finally someone shut her up.....



























a sista.

 

[Keith Justice]

Man, what the **** has Sony been thinking lately????

 

[Mega Ranger]

thier living in a bubble, they think that they're number 1 in the industry because the Plasystation has been #1 in SALES for so long. they've buried thier head in the sand when it comes to the fact that Nintendo and Microsoft are kicking thier butts in terms of PROFIT, and that the DS has literally crushed the PSP. it's gasping for air right now and I don't think it has much more than a year left in it.

 

[Michael Joe Red Mask]

At least the DS Lite doesn't discriminate (except here in the US). It could apply to dark blue, ice blue,white, and black people.:laugh:

 

[Ragna "D" BloodEdge]

At least the DS Lite doesn't discriminate (except here in the US). It could apply to dark blue, ice blue,white, and black people.:laugh:

Oh, please...:nono:

 

[Black Ranger RX]

Y'know, first time I saw this pic, I thought it was basically a white woman holding a PSP, with bits of white snow dripping from the PSP, until then I read underneath that it was actually a white woman holding a black woman's face, and then took a closer look at the picture and saw that the PSP in the white woman's hands resembled the black woman's face, and the white bits of snow were actually buttons on the black woman's shirt.

Maybe that was just due to my stupidity!!

But then again, maybe the ad would just need a bit of editing and then it could be perfect. Why not have the white woman holding the white PSP and have bits of snow dropping from the white PSP instead?

 

[MegaRyu124x]

Sony is out of their mind and in their own world.

First, Sony SLAPS us with a $600 system that basically stole features that the Wii and 360 had. $600, unimpressive game line-up, and features that we can get at a cheaper price? Please.

I can go on all day about that. Hell, I can touch on Sony's font for the system. You know what I'm talking about.

Now, they're giving us a pretty-fucking-obvious racial campaign on the PSP. This isn't the beginning, remember those Black and Hispanic cartoon characters advertising the thing?

I'm happy with my PSP, but Sony is out of their mind as of late. What has gotten into them?

 

[Black Ranger RX]

This isn't the first time Sony have produced an offensive commercial for their products.

I can remember reading years ago in some computer game magazines about Commercials being banned back in the days of the original PlayStation. There was one commercial for CoolBoarders 2, that had some sort of drug reference (I can't remember, I never seen it but I read about it), a Tekken 3 poster got banned because it had a picture of a dead man with a card hanging from his toe, showing the "Triangle, Circle, Square and Cross" symbols, one commercial for "Bloody Roar", had basically a picture of a female in a black bikini, but the ad critics weren't sure why they were using her to advertise for the game..

This PS2 Commercial was banned in France..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKYuJ4W7Mcc

Oh, does anybody remember the Zelda 64 "Wilst thou get the girl, or wilst thou play like one?".