ESPN Attacks Kobe Bryant Over Black Ops Commercial

[unicron44]

I remember watching Outside the Lines when they were discussing it and found it BORING! They made the same points everyone else did and tried to compare it to when Allen Iverson had a rap album about him being a gangster. Thank goodness the head of Major League Gaming made sense of the entire thing.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

This just in. TV Commentators complain about advertisers affecting peoples perspectives. Remember who pays them. Shut up.

Guess ESPN won't get any more cash from Activision any time in the future...

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

Oh they're just pissed because the commenter likes Halo better than CoD.

It's people like these that have diamonds running down their pants when they stand up after being such tight-asses over another non-issue. While we're at it, let's go after toy soldiers. Hell, let's take down Toy Story for having toy soldiers. Because y'know, those little green men are tearing down the thin fabric separating perception of reality from fiction.

Face it, the ad was done well and it hit a good target. Perhaps ESPN should knock down Microsoft's door for some better ad campaigning for its ESPN feature nobody cares about and the "justification" in raising the Xbox Live price for frivolous garbage like that. I know that if I had Live still, I'd cancel at the notice of ESPN features + $10 extra out of insult to my intelligence[footnote]I can get ESPN any bloody time I want, so why would I pay or treat it as an incentive?[/footnote]

 

[Infernai]

*sighs* See? This is why we can't have nice things..

 

[JaredXE]

No he didn't, it was settled out of court. He apologized publicly to the girl. This meaning he paid her enough money to drop it and admitted fault (if not necessarily rape).

He's still a sleazeball and a poor role model. (no matter how much you think it shouldn't be athletes are role models)

That was the civil case. The criminal investigation was dropped because the 'victim' refused to testify after many lies and inconsistancies in her story came to light.

But you are right, NO athlete should be a role model, Kobe Bryant less so.

 

[McShizzle]

Bah, that commercial is great. ESPN Commentator = moralist dipwit. What's that 4Chan expression, "Haters gonna hate."
Seems appropriate.

 

[vicvinegar]

It is typical of the US press to denounce a celebrity/role model for engaging in fantasy gunplay yet these are the same reporters who support the US military and their numerous foreign occupations. I highly doubt a Middle Eastern civilian is concerned about Kobe Bryant's grenade launcher.

 

[Gavmando]

I guess it's just a different way of thinking. Aussies would see CoD as a game where you run around and shoot stuff, but I think Americans would see it the same way, and then go out and give it a try with real guns. (Hopefully in a safe setting.)

Hmm. Ponder time for me...

I seriously doubt that except in a very small number of people. Hell, I don't even like guns and I enjoyed the commercial quite a bit. All I could see in it was all the types of people you might play with. You'd have to be really stupid about guns to want to reenact this. This stupidity is rampant among all weapons but swords and guns get the worst of it.

The problem is that that small number of people have easy access to guns. And from what i've heard from guys I work with who have been to the states, is that you can even buy assault rifles like the ones in the add.

The problem I have with the add is that it's glorifying guns. And with the massive crime rates and gun crime in America, it just seems stupid to add fuel to the fire.
And dont get me wrong, i'm not blaming video games. I've been playing video games for more than 20 years and i've never even hit another person in anger. I'm a Buddhist vegetarian and I still love playing games like CoD. But if you show an add like that on TV, then kids will see it, and think that guns are cool. Games like CoD have a rating system for a reason. So that only a mind that is mature enough to handle it gets a hold of it. But if it's a TV add, then kids will see it and will be raised with the same views, and the cycle of gun loving will continue.

 

[Rajin Cajun]

SERIOUS BUSINESS.

At least Kobe isn't out raping women amirite?

Great, you made me spray coffee everywhere when I laughed, I hope you're happy

In the words of Great Warlord George Bush, "Mission Accomplished!"

 

[Pyode]

That ad is just flat-out retarded. Especially from a business standpoint. Showing children in a game that they know is an M-RATED GAME is just being stupid. I'm not one who thinks that "video games made me do it", I just think that commercial in general is bullshit.

Um... there are no children in that ad. The young looking girl with the shotgun is in her early 20s.

 

[Red-Link]

Children "playing war" with their fingers and toy guns are also painting it in a happy-go-lucky vibe.

Does that downplay the seriousness that real combat entails?

Alright so maybe a little, but still, you don't go attacking kids about it. These guys are just having fun. I'm sure we've all imagined ourselves in that situation before, where we're all killing each other in a fun and happy manner.

Or at least I have.
...

What?

Battle Royale is one of my favorite daydreams. It's not like that means that I want it to happen for real or that I'm downplaying how horrid that would be. Oh, and I love this commercial.

 

[Bill_Stanbrook]

I wonder what the muppets complaining there think of paint-ball tournaments, and similar combat games. Most sports are just ritualized forms of combat, anyway.

 

[superbatranger]

Oh, they're just angry because everyone would rather be playing Black Ops than watching ESPN. I know I would.

 

[Nocturnal Gentleman]

The problem I have with the add is that it's glorifying guns. And with the massive crime rates and gun crime in America, it just seems stupid to add fuel to the fire... But if you show an add like that on TV, then kids will see it, and think that guns are cool. Games like CoD have a rating system for a reason. So that only a mind that is mature enough to handle it gets a hold of it. But if it's a TV add, then kids will see it and will be raised with the same views, and the cycle of gun loving will continue.

Everything you just mentioned though is also somewhat on faulty rearing. My family has very few people that actually own guns yet all children are taught that guns are extremely powerful and dangerous weapons. You mess around with them and you'll at best destroy things or hurt someone, and at worst you'll kill yourself or others.

People only become stupid enough to think, "guns are cool! I'm going to buy one and shoot it all over the place!" when they aren't taught to respect that a weapon is a weapon and not a toy. Like I said this stupidity is rampant among guns and swords. Also, I wouldn't attribute guns much as a direct cause for crime but more to extreme paranoia, race relations, stupidity and people who can't deal with stress and anger properly. If you got rid of guns people would only replace it with another weapon to kill each other.

Also, while you can buy assault rifles it's not that easy to get a hold of one. From my understanding you need licenses that make you more qualified to have specialty weapons. You can't just walk in and be like, "Durr I'll buy an assault rifle." The only way to get guns more easily is the black market. I have no idea where you'd go for such sales but I do know it's a rampant problem here. People own all sorts of things they have no business buying.

 

[typhoon17]

lol espn. Lets talk about that that hour show you gave to lebron james, that was a waste of advertising.

Exactly! The way they played out the Lebron circus was way worse than any video game advert.

 

[RzaRings]

What else is new with ESPN's negative takes on Kobe and the Lakers! This channel is the most bias network broadcasted since FOX news! First just type Bomani Jones on google if you already don't know who he is the first five pics that come up is him rocking a Celtics jersey. Just look at last June when Lakers where playing the Celts everyone on this network was crying over it like a little baby that refs were paid off, Kobe shouldn't be MVP, blah blah blah... Now they found another reason to ***** about Kobe, cry me a river even the last vice president shot a person with a gun and he didn't get this much negative comments.

 

[Glerken]

Pretty lolworthy ad, all I can say about this Kobe guy (am I meant to know him?) is that he is a NOOB! Fucking noobtubes XD

He's a professional basketball player. Although, he may also be known for.. vvv

At least Kobe isn't out raping women amirite?

 

[Wicky_42]

Mark Medina, of the Los Angeles Times, said of the commercial, " ... I think the commercial featuring a happy-go lucky vibe with ordinary citizens pretending to be in combat downplays the seriousness that real combat entails."

But that's the ENTIRE point, lol - games aren't like real combat, and the sooner these sort of commentators realise that the sooner we can move on and have real discourse about games and their influences on people.

 

[Rad Party God]

I liked this ad, although it's a bit generic for me, it could've advertised another completely differnt game, using the same mid-eastern setting and nobody would've seen the difference.

 

[brumley53]

Tl;DR the sports industry is losing boofheads to COD