And sony continues with stupid actions...

Debate over a recent Sony billboard in the Netherlands advertising the release of the Ceramic White PlayStation Portable in the region was fittingly white-hot last week. That' s when an ad featuring a Caucasian woman holding a black woman by the jaw in a threatening manner was decried as racially insensitive.

Today, one of those who criticized the ad and condemned Sony for running it, California Assemblyman Leland Yee, instead commended the publisher. According to a statement from Yee, Sony has pulled the advertising campaign and apologized to anyone offended by it.

" I am pleased to see Sony taking responsibility for their racially charged ad and appropriately pulling it from the marketplace," Yee said. " Sony did the right thing by recognizing their insensitive mistake and apologizing for offending many of their customers."

Yee was backed in his condemnation of Sony by representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the civil rights education group Sojourn to the Past. Sony originally defended the ad, saying its only intent was to contrast the colors of its two models of PSP. It still didn' t sit well with Rick Callender, president of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP.

" Their attempt to contrast colors clearly created controversy and sparked painful feelings in the global community," Callender said. " Hopefully in the future, Sony will employ a better litmus test to their ad campaigns to determine if they will be sour to the taste of worldwide consumers."

What´s wrong with them? they keep on doing stupid things

here´s the link for more infohttp://www.gamespot.com/news/6153816.aspx

Hidemoto, I think you should re-name this thread:

" All things Sony and Stupid."

Because there are just too many things that Sony keep doing wrong, that making
a new thread each time is just tiresome.

But they just love standing in their own sh!t.

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

Sony? Screwing the pooch again? ORLY?

I' m getting tired of them. I like their consoles, but they' re just so stupid!!! It' s like hanging out with that one dumb friend, who' s got alot of money, but is a few frenchfries short of a happy-meal.

Y' know what, i actually both LIKE the ads AND i don' t think they' re racist at all!

Sony? Screwing the pooch again? ORLY?

Ya RLY

HA ha thats funny. I wouldn' t call the billboard racist but its inappropriate.

I never thought the ads was offensive either,it was a black model against a white one.

get it?

Psp model white is coming.

And they then had a white model with white hair pushing away the black model.

seriously that was not racist.

Even if you break 2 legs from a crab it still runs!
What you gotta do is find its weak spot and do massive damage at it.

I didn' t think it was racist but what I didn' t get is playing their product off each other which is a bit silly. They could have just had a lonely psp sitting on a bench swinging on it' s own then show the white one packing it' s bag to join it....

HA ha thats funny. I wouldn' t call the billboard racist but its inappropriate.

Yeah I agree there

Its not even inappropriate, had it been a white female painted black in the shoot instead, no one would have bothered. People should get their heads out of their asses and stop being so pissy!

I disagree. I think the ad campaign was inappropriate, insensitive and naive in its conception at best. My position, and that of the people and organizations that decried the ad campaign, is not " pissy" but simply socially conscious and respectful of efforts to move beyond a long history of racism. And moving beyond that does not mean " let' s just pretend it never happened." Look, obviously the advertisement was making a direct reference to race -- equating the " black" race and the " white" race (socialized semantic generalizations) to their literally black and white PSP models. The bizarre psychosexual imagery of two women in physical conflict alludes to god only knows what kind of weird baggage and hang-ups are in the minds of the advertising agency.

Now I' ll readily admit that in a lot of cases, politicians have taken a stance against videogames simply as an easy hot-button issue to gain publicity... but in this case I think Yee and the NAACP were right on. Props to people with critical thinking skills.

had it been a white female painted black in the shoot instead, no one would have bothered.

You' ve got to be kidding. What you' ve described is an antiquated form of racist entertainment in the United States called " blackface." Look it up. That would have created an even more furious uproar.

Meh! Some people are black and some people are white. Just like the PSPs. Don' t bother so much, have some fun instead.

......and buy a 360?!

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

So this...



...is racist?!

If so, what' s this...





What about this...





The fact that some have deemed them " racist" is pathetic. They' re not racially charged whatsoever. It' s simply showing the contrast between the black and white PSP models and portraying the consumers internal struggle over which colour to buy.

Bear in mind that the ad campaign was launched in Europe and faced no critism there, the critism came from US sites. It' s retarded!

I' d call it being oversensitive... but that' d be insensitive of me now wouldn' t it?

While some people could be offended by it, I' m not. If you were to look at it in a half-second glance, the way most billboard ads are supposed to be viewed, you would see an ad explaining that the ceramic white psp is here. It' s only when you look deeper into it that you can see racist subtext. People dig so hard to find hidden meanings and subtle social contexts, in everything, that they' ll find anything if they looked hard enough.
Granted, Sony should have though about this, because everyone' s entitled to their opinion, and obviously, they wouldn' t all interpret it the same. Some people would look at it as a racist attack, but i personally think they' re looking too deep. If they had done the ad with little Pac-Man characters instead of caucasian and african-american people, I don' t think you' d have any of this

They are all racially charged simply because they' re utilizing the race of the models to represent the different products.

And it' s no wonder that criticism of the advertisements emanated from the U.S. Having built the country on race-specific slavery, with unequal pay and other forms of institutionalized racism still in effect to this day, I guess you could say that people are sensitive about the way race is portrayed in the media.

Not everyone has the luxury of this escapist entertainment medium, i.e. videogames. Why is it so difficult to respect the people who say they are offended or at least uncomfortable with this type of imagery?

Eddie: What you' re describing, " looking deeper into it" is simply critical thinking. Although you claim that this can go to a hypersensitive or paranoid extreme, you don' t have to look very deeply to see that the race of the models was used to represent the colors of the product options. That is not some paranoid, roundabout conspiracy theory; it' s plainly obvious at first glance.

Bottom line, the advertisements are in poor taste and were rightly retracted.

it' s no wonder that criticism of the advertisements emanated from the U.S. Having built the country on race-specific slavery

I dissagree that the US was built on slavery. Slavery took a large part in forming the U.S. I can' t deny that, and I won' t bring up the " north outlawed slavery" argument either, because I know they were supported economically by the south, but i think your statement generalises The States as a country with an immoral foundation.

Eddie: What you' re describing, " looking deeper into it" is simply critical thinking. Although you claim that this can go to a hypersensitive or paranoid extreme, you don' t have to look very deeply to see that the race of the models was used to represent the colors of the product options. That is not some paranoid, roundabout conspiracy theory; it' s plainly obvious at first glance.

Agreed wholeheartedly,

What I' m trying to convey, is that, judging by the pictures Majikdra6on posted, it doesn' t appear that either race is dominating, or defining themselves as better. Therefore, I don' t consider it racist? Yes, there are people of two different races on the billboard, but does that make it racist? The african-american woman in the picture isn' t portrayed as any less than the caucasian woman. Its just displaying the differences between the two. There' s nothing wrong with displaying our differences, just so long as we don' t consider our " differences" to be better than others.

(see, now you' ve really got me going )

Not everyone has the luxury of this escapist entertainment medium, i.e. videogames. Why is it so difficult to respect the people who say they are offended or at least uncomfortable with this type of imagery?

I' m not saying i don' t respect you or your opinion, but i don' t think you have the right to condemn advertisements that were created to appeal to a European market.

You' ll see naked women on billboards in Europe, ...would you find that offensive or inappropriate?

Zoy man, if you dig that deep you' ll find racism in every ad in the world. What a world we live in. So what if they are using the different races to show the difference between the PSP' s? Black people are black and white people are white. Are you trying to deny that people doesn' t look the same?
Every single ad in the world probably upsets someone. But you can' t forbid everthing that upsets people just because they can' t get the point of the ad.
There' s a difference between being overly sensitive and critical thinking.
We had the same debate here in Sweden over an ice cream called Nogger Black. It was a big black licorice ice cream and people reacted over the name Nogger (nigger) but here in Sweden Nogger is an old classic ice cream.
Now, long after the debates, we all laugh at it because it was so silly.
And do you think the guys who made the commersial or the ice cream company were sad? No they weren' t because you can' t pay to get that much attention to an ad. The ice cream sold like crazy.
Btw. Zoy, are you black?

I' m black and I don' t care! Sit down, chew bubblegum and play CoD2.

Majik, you ditched me!

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

i won´t discuss if it´s racist or not...but come on...they could have been smarter and come up with a great to advertise the new psp without giving the smallest idea of racism...that´s why i said stupid actions

What? They should' ve expected that an ad with a black and a white woman who contrasts each other would be found rasist? That' s stupid! None of them were shown as " inferior" or anything. One is black and one is white. They don' t look the same. So what? How can people be upset with that?
I suppose no company will ever have the guts to have black and white people in the same ad after this.

I dissagree that the US was built on slavery. Slavery took a large part in forming the U.S. I can' t deny that, and I won' t bring up the " north outlawed slavery" argument either, because I know they were supported economically by the south, but i think your statement generalises The States as a country with an immoral foundation.

OK, that was a big generalization on my part. Not all of the founders of the US agreed with slavery and there was always a struggle to abolish it. But since it is a big part of the history of the US, and some very real inequalities exist to this day, what I' m saying is that it shouldn' t be surprising that people in the US are going to react strongly to matters of race.

The african-american woman in the picture isn' t portrayed as any less than the caucasian woman. Its just displaying the differences between the two.

Well, there is one factor that you didn' t mention and that is that they are portrayed as being in physical conflict with each other. There are also additional sexual subtexts. So, I think it' s understandable that there are strong emotional reactions to these images.

I' m not saying i don' t respect you or your opinion, but i don' t think you have the right to condemn advertisements that were created to appeal to a European market.

You' ll see naked women on billboards in Europe, ...would you find that offensive or inappropriate?

Well, Majik, this is a huge issue. I could only say as for your question about nude women in advertising, as with any media, I personally think there are ways to do it that are respectful and there are ways to do it that are objectifying or exploiting. Bottom line, I do think that artists have social responsibility and I would relate it to games by saying that " Shenmue" has much more integrity than " GTA" ; clearly women and people of different races are treated in very different ways in those games. As for your argument about the advertisements being geared specifically to Europe, Sony is operating as an international company so people in other countries have a right to know if they are doing something they consider inappropriate in another market. Sony Europe certainly has the right to disregard criticism coming from another continent; I' m glad they responded to this issue though.

Zoy man, if you dig that deep you' ll find racism in every ad in the world. What a world we live in. So what if they are using the different races to show the difference between the PSP' s? Black people are black and white people are white. Are you trying to deny that people doesn' t look the same?

Well... in the late 80s and early 90s in the States, I' m not sure if these ads appeared in Europe or not, there was a very high profile ad campaign for the clothing company Benetton called " United Colors of Benetton" which certainly focused on differences in race. That campaign was rather controversial as well, but I think there were clear qualitative differences in the matter of respectfulness... basically that campaign was depicting beauty, whereas the Sony campaign depicts somewhat sexualized violent conflict.

Also, black people are actually varying shades of brown and white people are varying shades of pink and tan. So, this is another thing to think critically about.

I think you are probably right that this ad campaign was designed as a sort of publicity stunt as well, which in my mind is just another example of poor taste and lack of integrity.

Btw. Zoy, are you black?

I' m not black, but I think you' ll find that people of any particular race will have differing opinions on any subject. I am a supporter of the NAACP and I respect their efforts to defend the civil rights of people of all races, not just black people.

Anyway, cheers to everyone for a mostly respectful discussion.

It' s getting tedious that people (mostly Americans) can get themselves so upset over nothing. They are clearly not racist, they are undertones of sex and violence, but thats what our world is today sex sells.

People are too serious about things. It seems like Zoy is very hearty about the issue, dont get worked up about something which is clearly just fun!

Its almost like the gay people in Holland when Postal 2 was released, they were in an uproar because you could kill gay people in it! But as the developer said, you can kill everyone else as well!

I think people are right in making controversial art, adds, movies, media and games, if people didnt, art would go no where, and the world would be so boring.



Racisme is bad Mkay?

Okay. Now let' s get this straight. You guys don' t see how this...



...might offend people?

First of all, the white woman is holding the black womans face in a very disrespectful manner. Then, when you add in the slogan " White is coming" , it seems like a warning.

Personally, I find all of the pictures in bad taste, but the one above is BY FAR the worst offender. Hell, if white was released first, and black was coming out and they put this up...



...and they used the slogan " Black is coming" I' d find that tastless, too.

It' s not really racist, per se, but it is insensitive I think.

I think both women are pretty. Wouldn' t mind being in the centre of them.

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

I think it' s a smart ad. It' s daring so it gets attention. That' s probably the reason they kept the idea depsite the risks.
They probably thought that people would first react with a
" Wow, sexy. Wait! Is that a black woman fighting a white woman? Is that racist?"
and then go
" Oh, I see, the ad is for a black electronics product that now gets accompanied by a white one. Tehehe smart."

Both women look beautiful and very proud. They' re both strong and neither looks any less than the other. It reflects the image Sony wants their PSP' s to have. They' re both great. Even though they' re different.
I understand that if you keep thinking about it and try to come up with strange ideas then the ad is offending but if you just losen up and try to look at it as I do I' m sure you' ll find the ad to be pretty cool.

I don' t care whether Americans find them racist. They weren' t used in the US they were used in Europe and it' s very different here!

The black and ethnic population here didn' t complain, it' s was some pissy American websites/blogs no doubt looking to get a few more readers.

Offensive?!

Invading a country is offensive. Lying about why you' re going there is offensive. Trying to police the entire world is offensive. Tell me again why black Afro-Americans should give a toss about these ads being used in another country when the people complaining about them are white Americans who did nothing when Katrina hit?!

I' m black and I don' t care! Sit down, chew bubblegum and play CoD2.

I would guess that the majority of black Americans don' t care either. Since it was American games websites that first picked it up and complained, it' s fair to say that in general it' s white people complaining. As i said, in Europe it' s different, people social views and tastes are different.

Majik, you ditched me!

We tried inviting you back into the next set of matches but you had gone to the dashboard?!

You missed out on a couple of awesome games in Stalingrad. I was neck and neck with Lucid for about 100 kills. Oh, and if you haven' t already, add Lucid Tour, we' re playing again tonight with Slammer.

It' s far from stupid - this AD is the thing that the whole industry was talking about.People on forums are often like little retards who call things stupid when they don' t understand their purpose.

It' s was meant to be controversial from the very beginning.Have you seen the jesus ad for Italy?


Oh I also agree with majik - some guys say Loco Roco is racist - as long as people look for racist behaviours, racism won' t die

ORIGINAL: ]GaNgStA[

It' s far from stupid - this AD is the thing that the whole industry was talking about.People on forums are often like little retards who call things stupid when they don' t understand their purpose :)

It' s was meant to be controversial from the very beginning.Have you seen the Jesus Ad for italy?

It may have invited controversy but it' s certainly not racist.

You missed out on a couple of awesome games in Stalingrad. I was neck and neck with Lucid for about 100 kills. Oh, and if you haven' t already, add Lucid Tour, we' re playing again tonight with Slammer.

Great, because that was fun last night. I couldn' t join your session in progress for
whatever reason, but I don' t mind some tonight... I' ll add him as soon as!

There are two rules to success:

1. Never tell all you know.

ORIGINAL: Tiz

You missed out on a couple of awesome games in Stalingrad. I was neck and neck with Lucid for about 100 kills. Oh, and if you haven' t already, add Lucid Tour, we' re playing again tonight with Slammer.

Great, because that was fun last night. I couldn' t join your session in progress for
whatever reason, but I don' t mind some tonight... I' ll add him as soon as!

GRAW and CoD2 are on tonights agenda!



back to the threads topic, i like SPOnG' s take on it...

But who exactly has complained about this advert? SPOnG suspect that it' s predominantly Birkenstock-wearing white middle-class people. And in our opinion they' d be better targeting their outrage at corporations not for running some fairly second-rate advertising, but instead for refusing to fund better levees, for systematically excluding black people from anything but the lowest-paid and most menial jobs, for discriminating against brown-skinned minorities as ' potential terror threats' and for avoiding taxes so aggressively that the government cuts back on health-care and education in the poorest (black) areas.

And what about the black model in the advert, is she a traitor to her skin colour, or did she maybe not think that it was such a big issue.

Full Article

It' s not that difficult to figure out why people would be offended by the ad.

There has been a history racial tension across the world between blacks and whites.
Culture is a result of history.
The ad uses color and race as a basis to distinguish the women, then puts them in conflict.
Using racial conflict to advertise a product is so silly i wonder how that ad got out of the offices.

AND JUST WHEN I THOUGHT SONY COULDNT GET ANY MORE RETARDED.........

http://mud.mm-a5.yimg.com/image/1955908604