Sony Pulls Controversial PSP Ad, Issues Apology 182
xenongamer writes "Sony has finally stepped up and pulled the racially controversial PSP ads out of the Netherlands. 'We... recognize that people have a wide variety of perceptions about such imagery and we wish to apologize to those who perceived the advert differently to that intended. In future, we will apply greater sensitivity in our selection of campaign imagery, and will take due account of the increasingly global reach of such local adverts, and their potential impact in other countries,' said Sony in a statement."
Stepped up? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:1)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
In every presidency, you will find that people claim they don't support this or that more because the implementation has evolved into more nege
Re:Stepped up? (Score:3, Interesting)
Step 2: Manage to get huge American ad attention by triggering guilty social conscience
Step 3: When interest in ad begins to dwindle, drum up more publicity and goodwill by announcing withdrawl
Step 4: ????
Step 5: Profit!
Honestly, for the price of a few billboards Sony is getting a lot of coverage for the new white PSP.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:1)
Still bothers me, though.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that a reverse racist is still a racist and not a person who isn't a racist. I'm sure you already knew that but others reading might not know.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:4, Insightful)
The world must be a frightening and confusing place.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:5, Informative)
it was the other way around as well. there were 3 ads. one features a black girl and a white girl on equal footing, one featured the black girl in a dominant position over the white girl, and one featured the white girl in a dominant position over the black girl. why does everyone just keep talking about the white over black ad? even my local news failed to mention the other two ads...
check out this old post [slashdot.org] for links to all three ads.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:3, Insightful)
I guess whatever sell advertising and suscriptions
Focused on one of three ads (Score:1, Interesting)
As was stated by others in the earlier discussion, would there have been a huge outcry if there existed only one advertisement, and it was black over white?
My opinion? I seriously, seriously doubt it.
Re:Focused on one of three ads (Score:2)
It would if whites had been slaves to blacks... but that's not what happened.
Maybe it's because they are yellow? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:5, Insightful)
And when I was in Kansas, I was told that the fact my sister-in-law had once dated a "nigger" was reason to be mad at her.
The fact is that racism, religiousism, whateverism is still alive and well in the world today - and it is *exactly* by pointing it out that you extinguish it. I hear people complain about "political correctness", and how its destroying things.
Of course, the counter argument, as Jon Stewart once pointed out, is that Thomas Jefferson used to fuck his slaves.
So every time you see someone do something that vaguely smacks of racism, you have to squash it, and squash it so hard so that the people who still believe in that crap are reminded that the rest of the world doesn't agree with them. When Congress doesn't want to renew the Civil Rights Voting act because they feel that the areas it targets aren't racist anymore, you get right in those people's faces and tell them "Oh yes it is", and then you show where voters are intimidated or have their names removed from voting lists by using criminal lists from other states.
Sony fucked up, and I don't care what country they do it in: they screwed the pooch big time. There were plenty of ways to show that the white PSP was coming - but to show a white woman subjigating a black woman
Oh, and for the "well, they have an ad showing a black woman beating up on a white one", you go through centuries of slavery, then more decades of racism, then continued glares from people who think that you're a thief just because you're black, or have problems registering to vote or get ticketed for "driving while black" and continued segregation of the schools, *then* tell me if you don't mind the black woman beating up the white one. That one was just as bad in my opinion, and just because you don't find it offensive doesn't mean that it wasn't.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:4, Interesting)
This hypersensitivity is actually serving to perpetuate racist views. It is forcing people to consider race as an issue when people really shouldn't have to. Please don't feed me a line about the "years of oppression". What if the white woman was Jewish? In that particular ad campaign (of which people only ever seem to show one image of, conveniently leaving out another where the roles are reversed), who's opressing who?
Personally, I'm disappointed in Sony for their retraction. Go ahead and say your sorry people have misinterpreted the intent of the campaign, that's fine. Even pulling the campaign itself s understandable.. apparently, people are too stupid for this ad campaign to work. But to come out and "admit" they were wrong? That's just caving into peer pressure there.
Racial tensions vs racism (Score:5, Insightful)
Um, yes, obviously. Or two races who had never had any kind of conflict, say Hawaiians and Arabs. That's called "context" and it's important. These ads don't exist in a vacuum. They exist in our world in which one race dominating, slaying, and enslaving another has been one of the continual themes of history. The ad itself pairs two races who have had such a history even up to today. That's significant. That can't be ignored.
This hypersensitivity is actually serving to perpetuate racist views. It is forcing people to consider race as an issue when people really shouldn't have to.
Race is an issue in many places in the world, and pretending otherwise is not going to make it go away. Racism and racial tensions exist in many parts of the world, and black vs white racial tension and racism exist here in the United States. Anyone who says it isn't is in denial or living somewhere where they don't have to deal with it.
Race is an issue in these ads. This is just undeniable. Racial tension is also an issue. Sony can talk about "color" in the abstract sense of their PSPs as much as they want. These women aren't just white and black, they're European and African. Going at each other. Racial tension? Yes.
But is it racism? I'd certainly say not. If you look at the whole series, it actually looks very passionate. They may be aggressive and combative, but they practically end up on top of each other. As someone else pointed out, the ad is basically about sex. Aggressive sex, but that doesn't make it hateful. Do you think interracial lovers sometimes feed off the racial tension between them? Certainly. In that sense the series is almost cathartic. The artist was using the implied tension towards their goal.
So is hypersensitivity the problem here? Yeah, probably. It's a bit much to call the ads 'racist', though with the "White is coming" tagline and news articles only showing the white-gripping-black billboard, I can see how people would get the wrong impression. Remember though that like most kinds of hypesensitivity this arose from "over-stimulation" from actual racism and racial violence.
Is hypersensitivity perpetuating racism? Well, somewhat perhaps. I had an aquaintence once get mad at me for making reference to the fact that she's black. That act of sensitivity certainly made me more self-conscious of race, but we got along fine after that. I've had another aquantence tell me that he hated having black people around and thought we should deport them back to Africa. Dropped him like a bad habit, of course, but what about when he has kids? My point is -- to whatever extent hypersensitivity perpetuates racism, actual racism perpetuates racism much, much more.
So I suppose I'm going to have to come out in the middle on this issue. No, they aren't racist and the reactions were overblown. Yes, race is an issue in the ads and pretending otherwise is just avoidance or ignorance or whatever. In any event I don't feel sorry for Sony because appology or no they're getting exactly what they wanted from the ad.
Re:Racial tensions vs racism (Score:2)
They also existed in the Netherlands, not the US. We had to drag it out of it's original context and consider it in our own, a context for which it was never intended. Our rea
Re:Racial tensions vs racism (Score:2)
That's a good point. I honestly don't know nearly enough about the Netherlands to understand how the race issue would be viewed there, but clearly different en
Re:Racial tensions vs racism (Score:2)
From what I understand, its much less of an issue there. Must have something to do with the lack of "years of slavery" thing. I did a quick search, and couldn't find an instance of the locals complaining about the ad... just us.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
My point is, there shouldn't be a problem now. I saw the ad, and somehow managed to not think in terms of two women of different races, but rather just two women with different skin colors. It shouldn't be any different than two women with different hair colors. If it were a blonde and a brunette, would you cry "Oppression Against Brunettes!"?
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Sure, it's a dumb ad idea. But jumping on the company for "racist" imagery doesn't help stop racism. Nothing gets fixed by screaming "Racism, Racism" every time somebody gets offended by the recitation of "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo..." (Guess which word used to be in the place of tiger. That's right, 3 year olds can be raci
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Here, I think you should read this: http://games.slashdot.org/~toiletsalmon/journal/1
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Sure, the PSP ads are provocative. That's why they're so effecti
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Europe also has a sizable african population you know, and they also had african slaves.
What is interesting is, who was stupid enought not to see that this would cause problems.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Sony marketing gurus, thats who. For the price of a handful of billboards in Amsterdam, their new product is getting worldwide media attention. Sony knew full well that the ads would create problems. In fact, they were hoping they would. Probably the only reason they released images where the black woman is beating on the white woman is to say "hey, see, we're not racist, you misunderstood our ad."
Sony was hop
Re:Stepped up? (Score:3)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
I don't know about you, but I am guessing that few, if any, of the
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
As a proponent of free speech, I'd say anyone should be free to bitch about something any company does anywhere in the world. Said company is also free to completely ignore the bitching or respond to it as best suits their interests.
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
In all seriousness, I don't see the ads as being offensive - all they're doing is grabbing each other, not forcing one to pick cotton or whipping one of them in chains. It's not even risque.
On the other hand, how could the Dutch or the ad agency not at least forsee that this would cause controversy among the more sensitive? Do they not have any black rights orga
Re:Stepped up? (Score:2)
no. The truth is that corporations don't have a conscience. Morality is irrelevant to them, and all they can do is whatever they believe will maximize profit.
Great! (Score:5, Funny)
I've got something even more offensive. (Score:2)
Re:Great! (Score:2)
A Question (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:A Question (Score:1)
Re:A Question (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:A Question (Score:2)
White people from the Netherlands or Black people from the Netherlands?
Re:A Question (Score:2)
The interesting bit that is often not mentioned is that there were two versions, one where a white model held a black model by the throat, and one where the black model took the white model by the throat. I found both pretty decent (and the models aren't half-bad either), a pity I didn't see them irl (I do live in Amsterdam).
What I don't get is why Americans get pissed off by something l
Re:A Question (Score:2)
Actually, only a very small percentage of Americans seemed to notice or care at all about this. Most people I've talked to about it seemed to think that only an idiot would consider the ads to be racist. Too bad that small group was able to make enough noise to get Sony to kill the ads.
Re:A Question (Score:2)
Re:A Question (Score:2)
We for the very large part don't. A small but vocal minority always seem to be the ones criticizing the "morals" of the world stage, whether it's counter-racist tools that in this case actually justify the advertising dollars spent, or other perceived injustices.
Re:A Question (Score:3, Insightful)
Over here in the Netherlands, the ads had been running for some time, and there were no visible complaints anywhere. It's such a shame that the over-political correct people have to censor what -I- get to see... from -their- country. WTF ?
As this post [slashdot.org] points out, there's an equal one where one black woman is, (less agressively, I will admit that) attacking the white woman on the floor.
Why does that, conveniently, gets pulled from the r
Re:A Question (Score:3, Insightful)
As many will quickly realize, this makes the advertisin
Deliberate (Score:5, Interesting)
But the ads rely entirely on imagery. The pictures I saw didn't even have words on them, just two women. One completely white and one completely black in all respects. As also pointed out earlier there were three images with only the white-on-top-of-black one being controversial.
Why did they pick humans? The humans are supposed to represent PSPs, an inate object? I don't understand why this decision was made to use human beings. Put a black wolf and a white timberwolf in the image. Put a black demon and a white angel in the image. Why would you put two ethnicities of the human race that have obvious baggage attached to them. Even if it doesn't offend anyone you know, there are people alive today that are still suffering from the effects of racial tensions either directly or indirectly.
Why did they pick women? Again, the women are representing a PSP, you're just inviting people to speculate that women are objects. And to gamers, this might be "ok" or welcomed but when you throw it on a billboard, you're only drawing heat.
Why is there a struggle between these two subjects? Why would different colored PSPs fight each other? Are they incompatible? Is one better than the other? Again, I don't understand why they made the decision to pit them against each other in the images.
In retrospect, no matter what their motives or realizations were, I f*cking hate marketing and all forms of it.
Re:Deliberate (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, same here.
I guarantee you that despite whatever appology the PR flak gave, their marketing department is throwing a fucking party right now. This ad is nothing but a success for them.
Re:Deliberate (Score:2)
i am highly offended by your reference of 'black demons' and 'white angels'. is was clearly meant as a racist remark. i heard of a group in the deep south that ran around wearing pillow covers over their head that thought of demons as black and angels as white. [godwin]i believe there was also a group in germany that thought along the same lines[/godwin]... perhaps the media should cover your racist statement and someone can submit ths story to slashdot.
don'
Sony had no reason to pull those ads. (Score:1, Insightful)
This is just a PR move, through and through, even if the apology is slightly bitter.
Sony pulls out (Score:2)
I for one... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I for one... (Score:2)
Re:I for one... (Score:2)
People conveniently ignored the rest of the campaign to run around pointing the "racist" stick.
Re:I for one... (Score:2)
The ad campaign specifically drew attention to a struggle between two people, one with fair skin and one with dark skin. How can you claim "race was not involved"?
The ad may not be RACIST, but it is indisputably RACIAL.
This just in... (Score:1, Funny)
Its all viral marketing for junkies (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Its all viral marketing for junkies (Score:2)
which is why they buy a DS. ; ) . I partly agree with you but they are shooting themselves in the foot with this one... people really are frightened of being called racist (I think that this has caused us to still see nothing but the colour and not the person). If it makes me seem racist would I buy a PSP, even if I did want one? it would make me think twice (well, it wouldn't, but it's part of my point). A lot of peo
Malice & Stupidity (Score:4, Interesting)
I deal with my company's marketing department often; they inevitably display all the forethought and insight of a mentally challenged rutabaga. The chances of this being a consciously racist ad are virtually zero.
Furthermore, it's not like the PSP is doing poorly in the sales department; they really don't need to generate this kind of controversy just to get their name in the media. The planned prices for PS3 is doing that just fine.
At the end of the day, this just strikes me as another attack of the stupids.
Re:Malice & Stupidity (Score:2)
For example, a co-worker of mine designed an ad for a massage therapist. The ad used artwork from our purchased library of a woman, face down on a table, getting a shoulder rubbed by a very strong hand.
In order to make room for new copy, the picture was cropped. The customer decided to fade out the portion that had the head and some miscellaneous background. The ad was approved, it ran, and no one
Re:Malice & Stupidity (Score:2)
I dunno... I've always felt that sometimes outright malice is forgiven for pretending to be stupid.
About Sex... (Score:3, Insightful)
Once, a few years ago, they had some ad with a really attractive woman shaving her face with some new razor, saying, "ooh, is this the sensitive part... poor baby." Obviously, the purpose of the ad wasn't the shaving (or they would have some gruff, bearded man shaving).
So, all the controversy? It was about people totally not getting the ads.
Re:About Violent Sex, actually... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:About Sex... (Score:2)
That's hilarious. Well, I read that ad as a knock at men, but it is sort of about shaving - just not about shaving some guys beard. The puritanical american would be appalled at such an ad (though...if they get the joke, they're not that innocent).
Minced words (Score:3, Funny)
My socks never match each other. Should I steer clear of this guy?
The right thing for Sony to do... (Score:2)
Lame ad, good riddance (Score:2)
YAAAWWWNNN... (Score:2)
Re:YAAAWWWNNN... (Score:2)
Re:Goddammit (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Goddammit (Score:4, Informative)
--trb
Re:Goddammit (Score:5, Informative)
Sony had three ads - one where a white woman was holding a black woman by the chin, one wherre the black woman was overpowering the white one, and one that looked more neutral. Of course, everyone screamed "racist", spread the news about the first one, but not the other two. It just took me five minutes to find a site that had the other images [joystiq.com]. If you go to Google News and search for "sony racist ad" you'll overwhelmingly see only the first image.
Re:Goddammit (Score:1)
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
The fact of the matter is that we can argue until we're blue in the face about whether these ads were "racist" or not.
But the fact that they were racially problematic is pretty much indisputable. As the above comment said, why would they use a black person and a white person? Why would they be fighting? Are they really so naive as to not recognize that, given the history of racism, colonialism, genocide, fascism, etc. that have preceded our current worldwide race relations, that presenting an ad which si
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
I think we just need to ban all use of the colors white or black for any purpose other than referring to race. Problem solved, right?
Why would they use a black person and a white person? Um, maybe because they were advertising the new white PSP, which will be "competing" against the older black PSP? What other possible similar situation could you think up that would not be worse th
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
P.S. why did they feel the need to personify the PSP with people in the first place? There are literally thousands of other ways to show the contrast of these 2
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
Nor is it true that there is no racism issue in Holland - there is certainly a strong religion one, and it flows from the Theo van Gogh case and so on,
Re:Goddammit (Score:2)
Aha. So white women are by default racist?
Re:Goddammit (Score:3, Informative)
Google Images to the rescue:
http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/techchro n/2006/07/11/sony_ad300x225.jpg [sfgate.com]
Re:About Time... (Score:2)
they should trademark...'shooting yourslef in the foot'.
Re:About Time... (Score:2)
Re:About Time... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:About Time... (Score:3, Interesting)
You can go on as long as you want about hypersensitivity and whether there was intent or blah blah blah, but the story here was never that Sony had joined the white supremacist movement. The story all along is that Sony had done something stupid. The offense taken by some people is perha
Re:About Time... (Score:2)
Re:About Time... (Score:2)
If one sells Corn Flakes, for instance, one does not cover the box with caricatures of the Prophet Muhammed. Not because it's illegal, or because it's wrong, but because it's pointless. You know that you'll offend people, so even if you don't consider it a legit offense, you can't really expect it to improve sales.
In this particular issue, those defending Sony almost seem to be saying that Sony had an obligation to not consider the fact that people would
Re:Artwork in ad should match artwork in game (Score:1)
Re:Score One For The Marketing Types (Score:2)
Great Idea! It would be nice to verify that the same phenomena is happening around the world also, just not as dominating as it's doing in Japan. Look at the sales charts for Germany, France and England and take a look at how many DS games are on the list.
The next time you read a Sony Press Release about how great PSP "sales" are make sure it actually states sales and not shipped