Advocacy Group Angry That Moms Hate Dead Space 2

[Omgsarge]

Thus, each man to his opinion.

But d'ya know the funny thing? I was arguing purely on principals. I never found the ad campaign funny, I don't plan on buying Dead Space, and at the end of the day you're a bigger fan of the franchise than I ever will be.

More of a fan of it's potential.

 

[theultimateend]

I can see where Common Sense is coming from here. When I was a kid I would do anything I was told not to. I can't totally disagree with this, for a change.

My dad had a fix for this. He didn't tell me not to do something he'd just say "This looks retarded." and then would point out folks who do whatever it is.

Invariably they all DID look retarded so I never did it.

Worked for smoking, drinking, fast cars and a plethora of other things. Being honest and pointing out that people look retarded and then seeing them actually looking retarded is much better than the "I told you, that's why."

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

so, a parental advocacy group is complaining because a commercial is portraying what parents actually think about a game?


did........did we tear a rip in the space-time continuum?

No,we uncovered the common mentality of what makes us look good.(then divided by zero)

 

[Kroxile]

Sounds like someone is butthurt. If the parents don't want their kids playing the Dead Space games they need to step in and not make the purchase for them.

Other than that it really is no one's business what goes on. Some group of butthurt zealots has no right to tell people how to raise their kids and that's that.

 

[cefm]

Hey, if your kids want to do something just because you don't like it - that's hardly the fault of the game developers.

 

[Furrama]

I hate that ad, I've had to watch it over and over on The Onion the last few days. I keep arguing with it.

10 out of 10 moms hate Dead Space 2, (or 5 out of 5 depending on the ad)? Really? I'm female and I have a 17 month old... I don't think I hate it, (though thanks to that commercial I'm starting to). That figure is statistical flaw anyway.

It's for 17 and up, who CARES what their mothers think at that point? And you very well know why, old lady with glasses in the ad, that they would make something like that. BECAUSE THERE WAS A DEMOGRAPHIC THAT WOULD BUY IT. Sheesh.

Well I feel better.

Also, 'I think it done make a person become insane', is NOT a sentence.

 

[Phoenixlight]

It was obviously aimed at children who will want something if they think they're parents wouldn't approve of it.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

(Face palms)

And some people are missing the point... again!

 

[Bernzz]

Everyone has a mother.

Way to make the orphans feel left out, man.

OT: I can sorta see where they're coming from with this, in that this game would appear irresistible to kids. However, if EA had it approved before airing, there's really nothing this advocacy group can do.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

I hate that ad, I've had to watch it over and over on The Onion the last few days. I keep arguing with it.

10 out of 10 moms hate Dead Space 2, (or 5 out of 5 depending on the ad)? Really? I'm female and I have a 17 month old... I don't think I hate it, (though thanks to that commercial I'm starting to). That figure is statistical flaw anyway.

It's for 17 and up, who CARES what their mothers think at that point? And you very well know why, old lady with glasses in the ad, that they would make something like that. BECAUSE THERE WAS A DEMOGRAPHIC THAT WOULD BUY IT. Sheesh.

Well I feel better.

Also, 'I think it done make a person become insane', is NOT a sentence.

I suppose I'm someone in the "target demographic," but I too find it to be a complete inane ad. And having it shoved into every other bloody pre-video advertising is not convincing me to care about this game, let alone look at it as "mature." In fact, it makes me question the merit of something that is otherwise so devoid in positive attributes that it has to sink to the lowest denominator of "but your mom will hate it!"

Anyone 17+ who actually is swayed by their mom "hating it!" is in need of some quick growin' up, and I honestly think it is going to influence younger audiences more if anything. So I give some credit that at least they found a nice way to target a younger demographic for a horror game that makes it seem more approachable. However, couldn't they please just put this ad on repeat for cartoon network or something and not mature oriented web video advertisements?!? As Furrama pointed out, the ad is quite ubiquitous online so it becomes VERY ANNOYING TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T CARE!!!

Perhaps this leads to a major flaw with non-interactive (read: Forced down your throat if you want to potentially be entertained worm!) advertising. There is no "I hate your ad and you are hurting your chances of me ever investigating your product further with each successive forced advertisement" button after a viewing, so in cases like this Dead Space 2 ad, EA is inadvertently making those like myself associate "Dead Space 2" with "Old curmudgeons that I will never know or care about" and "This game is a part of a dilatory process to my online video enjoyment, grrrr."

 

[DarthFennec]

This is definitely targeting under-17s, how could it not be? Unless the target audience is adult gamers with the maturity level of under-17s. And how many of those are there in this community? Not many that I've met. Not on the Escapist, at any rate. If that's really what they're going for though, we're already lost. If Electronic Arts is so blind as to think so many of us adult gamers are that immature, then there is a major problem with this industry. Personally though, I don't think that's the case. I think it's simply that the target audience of this game is the kids. Which, in my opinion, is just as bad. Here's EA giving free ammo to California, good job guys 9_9

 

[Virgilthepagan]

mmm...I think they're actually right about this one. someone who clears the "mature" rating doesn't care what their parents think, since odds are, they don't live with them anymore (myself included). Personally I just felt insulted that EA tried to advertise the game by mocking parents. Why not just point out it's creepy or somesuch? We're adults, hopefully we're reasonable enough to make decisions based on what WE think about it.
Which leaves us only with the understanding that the ad was designed to target kids. So sanction them.

 

[Jopoho]

Your mom will not care about these sanctions!

www.yourmomisapathetic.com

I agree that theres no proof of the target audience, but that seems like its targeted WELL below the 17 and up range. I can't think of anyone I knew at 17 who bought something strictly because his or her mom wouldn't like it.

 

[cynicalsaint1]

I'm actually going to have to agree with the advocacy group a bit here.
The ads are in fairly poor taste in my opinion - why not focus on what makes the game good rather than "Its cool because your mom will hate it!" - it really does give off the image that its targeting people whose mothers still have a great deal of influence in their lives. Really seeing stuff like that makes be feel embarrassed to be a gamer - which sucks because I've been loving Dead Space 2 so far. Its a great game - and the majority of non-gamers exposure to it is going to be this juvenile BS.

But I suppose this isn't anything new for the marketing people from Visceral - if anyone remembers the Dante's Inferno add campaigns.

 

[Vohn_exel]

They knew just what they were doing with this ad campaign. "There is no such thing as bad publicity," as the saying goes. We're all talking about it, it's actually a good marketing scheme even when it seems like a bad one. Still, I hate it for the fact that even if it is just a ploy for money, it doesn't help the current problem with games being seen as linkage to violent behavior. Yeah, thanks for the help on that, EA.

 

[BoredDragon]

I'm going to have to go with Common Sense Media on this one. I personally believe that once someone is 15 or 16 years old they should be able to play M games but this campaign seems to be targeting younger kids. Kids 15 and above won't care what their mom thinks of a game while kids a little bit younger might be looking at a way to get a funny reaction out of her. I have 12 year old cousins who I know for a fact would love to see my aunt squeal in terror for their own enjoyment.

 

[BabyRaptor]

When you knock it down to reality, there's no way to prevent kids from hearing about and wanting the game, no matter what anyone thinks about the advertising involved. If the parents go out and buy it for the kid, then it's the parents' fault.

Nobody but the makers of the add know for 100% certain if the add was supposed to be funny or if it was aimed at kids. Either way, censoring the add simply because of your interpretation of it when censoring it ultimately does no good is wrong.

 

[Jack Macaque]

Strange isn't it, how no one is ever satisfied with anything these days, give the game a M rating, make a commercial that proves it deserves it...wait a second, if they're trying to say the commercial makes the games irresistible to kids under 17, how the hell are the kids under going to buy the games?

Really? Do these fools not realize this? A kids mom if going to have to buy him/her the game if he/she is under 17, isn't that law or something? If only we had a rating system and giant letters on game cases that would...oh right.

Big laughs here, this is going to go nowhere, not like we didn't know that.

 

[darkcommanderq]

EA had this coming. Personally I dont think EA should have anything done to them, but they defiantly deserve the harassment as a bit of payback for giving middle aged women nightmares.

Yes they got paid, and yes they signed up for it, but they were still mislead as to what they were watching. All this does is stir up more anti-game sentiment in the minds of the older generations.

 

[Robyrt]

Common Sense Media is right with this one. The mothers in the video are middle-aged, not old - the proper age to be mothers of teenagers, not adults. The tone is specifically targeted to say, "Whatever your mom disapproves of is cool," which is typically an under-17 attitude. (The older you get, the more right your parents were all along...)