Modern Warfare 2: Staying Classy

If you’ve been following gaming news at all this past week, there’s little doubt that you’ve heard about the latest fiasco surrounding the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 due to a video released by Infinity Ward that slipped in the phrase “fags.”  If you are somehow unfamiliar with it (and, incidentally, how did you end up here of all places?) basically every major gaming site has covered it already.  And if you’re a college student with a campus newspaper that covers gaming culture, like I am, chances are somebody covered it there too.

There isn’t much left to be said about the subject now, so this post is dedicated to letting you, the reader, actually see what all the hubbub is about.  Infinity Ward has taken down the video from their own YouTube account and has been forcing other users to do the same with copies.  Below is one of the few still active as of the writing of this post, though IGN has so far retained the advertisement in a different format.

Disturbing PS3 Ads Disowned

The offending print advertisement, courtesy of Joystiq.com

The baffling pair of print advertisements that caused such a fuss last week have since been disowned by both Sony and the advertising company that created them, according to Kotaku.com.

BBDO Chile, the advertising company that made the ads (whose name is apparently an acronym of its founder’s last names) released a statement saying, “This creative design did not involve and was never approved of by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony.  This “mock campaign” was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competition/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony.  BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand and its values.”  The statement was signed by Cristián Lehuedé, Executive President of BBDO Chile.

The detail that the ads were “not representative of the views… of SCE/Sony” are likely the most important clause of the release, given that the most offensive of the pair, pictured above, shows a young man–Sony’s target demographic–giving blood to Nazi field marshal Erwin Rommel.  What is implied by the advertisement, if anything, has not been stated by either BBDO or Sony, but a lot of unsavory conclusions can be drawn by if you’re willing to use your imagination (gamers are Nazi sympathizers?  Sony calling Godwin’s Law on itself?  An attempt at vindicating a relatively humane member of an otherwise monstrous military force?).  The second ad, depicting another individual participating in a heart transplant with Joan D’Arc, has been relatively ignored.

Courtesy of Joystiq.com

What is also unclear are the names and dates of the creative competitions and festivals mentioned in Mr. Lehuedé’s quote, from which the advertisements were supposedly leaked onto the internet from.

As pointed out in this article, Sony has something of a history when it comes to bizarre advertisements and campaigns.  Apparently, the company draws the line at Nazi imagery.