Ouya Releases, Then Pulls, Insane Vomit-Filled Commercial

[Steven Bogos]

Ouya Releases, Then Pulls, Insane Vomit-Filled Commercial

The Ouya commercial was pulled within hours of being uploaded. This being the internet means it was of course mirrored just as fast.

The Ouya, an Android-based indie console, launched earlier this year with more of a whimper than a bang [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10469-OUYA-Review-More-Whimper-Than-Bang], and the team has been desperately trying to repair the company's image ever since. However, a recent commercial that was uploaded and then pulled from YouTube within a couple hours certainly isn't helping the case. Of course, owing to the Streisand effect, trying to remove something only brings more attention to it, and this being the internet means that someone was sure to re-upload a mirror of the commercial for your viewing "pleasure".

The video starts off ok - a gamer is holding a copy of "Medal of Duty" and complaining about its $60 price tag, and that "it's exactly the same game!" Har har. We get it. Mainstream console games are all "the same" and expensive, while Ouya games are "unique" and cheap (or free). This would have been a pretty good commercial, but then things take a very Beavis and Butthead turn for the worse.

Our Medal Of Duty gamer then proceeds to fill half of his living room with vomit, rip out his spine, and start beating himself to death with it. Yeah. Ouya views you, the guy "wasting" $60 on crappy games as a brain-dead moron that literally wallows in his own filth and beats himself to death.

The existence of this commercial kind of bothers me. Someone wrote, animated, voiced, and uploaded the commercial to YouTube, and at no point did anyone say "hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea?" It was only until after the video was uploaded that someone at Ouya finally came to their senses and pulled it.

What do you guys think of the commercial? Am I just being too big of a prude, or do you feel the same way?

Source: Harabeck! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%20&feature=youtu.be])

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[Vie]

That was... ..that's the sort of thing the Family Guy team would do as a parody of a bad advert.

 

[Eppy (Bored)]

...Oh wow.

No, it's funny, it's definitely funny, and the gag's premise is good, but unfortunately it also involves an animated character ripping out his own spine. The same effect could have been accomplished just by beating his head against a wall or something without slasher movie-levels of gore, which is obviously inappropriate and they should have known better.

It technically is calling out its target audience as being stupid, but I don't think it's really mean-spirited. This is written from a place of empathy and I'm guessing that the author considers him/herself a member of the parodied demographic. The ad's failing here really is its violent presentation, not its point of departure.

 

[Nouw]

The art-style isn't very flattering either but maybe it's just me. I have a particular aversion for vomit. Blood and guts? Fine, but vomit just does it for me.

At no point did anyone say "hey, maybe this isn't such a great idea?" It was only until after the video was uploaded that someone at Ouya finally came to their senses and pulled it.

It's like every time I go on /b/.

 

[SilkySkyKitten]

What do you guys think of the commercial? Am I just being too big of a prude, or do you feel the same way?

I wouldn't say you're being a prude at all, truly. I admittedly am one of those "brain dead morons who wallow in their own filth and beat themselves to death" folks who enjoys games like Call of Duty and Battlefield and has plopped down $60 on those kind of games multiple times. So seeing this and knowing that this is the kind of image someone is willing to use to describe my gaming tastes is rather... disheartening. Possibly rather disgusting too, not just due to the content of the ad but just at the people who thought this was okay to make and put out.

 

[piinyouri]

HOLY SHIT.

Who let the Superjail animators in the house?

Honestly though, I enjoyed that. But it really REALLY has no business being on TV/online as a commercial for anything.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

What did I just watch? I'm sure someone thought it was funny when they made it, but how could anyone think that would be a good ad?

In a weird way it reminds me of an ad for an election campaign. Rather than focus on the positives of our system, lets make the other guys look like brainless retards, that'll work! But in this case, all they ended up doing was making themselves look childish.

 

[Jadak]

Well, you're definitely too much of a prude. But still, that was much more dumb than funny.

 

[dragongit]

and Ouya continues to fumble the ball long after the game has ended.

 

[Madame_Lawliet]

...What the dick?

If I'm being honest that was kinda hilarious, but I'm not entirely sure it's exactly the best way to sell a product...

 

[Alexander Competitor]

What baffles me is that someone approved this, no-one in the chain of people stopped to think "wait a minute, this really stupid" but then again that also applies to the laggy controller, among a things.

 

[RaNDM G]

All this time I thought it was "Wii-Ya", not literally "Ou-Ya".

Thanks poorly timed, excessively violent commercial. Your nineties cartoon shenanigans will certainly educate the masses of the correct pronunciation of your unimpressive console.

 

[knight steel]

EH it's not that bad-I mean gross/gory sure,something you would never show your child yep-but something for adults to get worked up over? Not really live and let live it not that bad just leave it be.

 

[Xyebane]

I don't think it was particularly funny but i also didn't think it was so bad. I do think it was going for Ren and Stimpy feel however he two problems with that is Ren and Stimpy is probably too old for the target demographic, was always niche and usually disturbing more than funny. They should have gone with the Log commercial instead.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Stop wasting cash on crappy games! Waste cash on a crappy console and try even crappier games for free!!! Ouyeah!

 

[Shinsei-J]

Well it succeed to raise my eyebrow.
If I didn't have any preconceptions of the Ouya this may have just turned me off or got me to research it, not quite sure which yet.
Even if it did manage to sway me towards the latter, I have to say this was one poorly executed ad. I'm the kind of person who loves this type of humour but the cartoon here was just dumb.

 

[Arkaijn]

It's pretty funny, probably would have been a real stinger if the OUYA didn't suck.

 

[Seventh Actuality]

I'd call it more baffling than insulting or gross. It might even have been a good move if the Ouya was actually worth a shit.

There's also a chance that they just figured the Ouya has hit the "any publicity is good" phase already - I know this is the first time I've seen it in the news since it launched.