Kane & Lynch 2 TV Ad Censored to Ten Seconds

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Kane & Lynch 2 TV Ad Censored to Ten Seconds

A Kane & Lynch 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Kane-Lynch-2-Dog-Days-Pc/dp/B0023CBZKM/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1281626879&sr=1-3] advertisement that was declared too violent for television was finally accepted by U.K. regulators after "much editing and many submissions" left it a grand total of ten seconds in length.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will be a violent game when it comes out next month, so it's hardly surprising that the advertising campaign is a little bloody too. Too much so for U.K. television regulators, who declared the original ad, featuring video from the launch trailer, inappropriate for broadcast. So Square Enix [http://www.square-enix.com] made some cuts, and then some more cuts, and then a few cuts more, until finally it managed to string together ten seconds of acceptable content.

"We've worked very closely with the U.K. TV advertising regulatory body to ensure our TV ad is suitable for broadcast after 9 pm," Square Enix U.K. Marketing Director Jon Brooke said. "After much editing and many submissions we now have a ten-second version which begins airing tomorrow - we hope you enjoy it."

What do you get for your ten seconds? Not much, I'm afraid. Pink text on a black background, sound effects, a quick blurb for the retailer Game [http://www.game.co.uk] and a second of deranged chuckles from Lynch. On the upside, Square Enix also gets to brag that the game is "too violent for TV," which has no small amount of marketing value in itself.

And of course, this being the internet, a look at what the regulators found so offensive is right at hand: The full, uncensored, slightly silly and ridiculously violent launch trailer is available for your perusal on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kfhmqXOcv0]. Just remember, kids, if you're under 17 you're not allowed to click that link. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is set for release on August 17 in North America and August 20 in Europe.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-08-12-kane-and-lynch-2-too-violent-for-telly-ad]


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Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
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Dosnt really surprise me...the advertising standard boards have been so finicky as of late with violence on TV and such...
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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Picky much? Pretty soon all a game can do to advertise is say the name of the game with a picture of the cover art.
 

Cherry Cola

Your daddy, your Rock'n'Rolla
Jun 26, 2009
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...

What the fuck did I just watch?

Yeah, the original trailer might be a bit too violent for TV, but... This isn't violent enough for TV
 

L4hlborg

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Jul 11, 2009
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One and a half minutes to 10 seconds? Kubrick should have hired who ever edited this for 2001: A space odyssey. That movie could have used some serious cutting.
 

SenseOfTumour

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Jul 11, 2008
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Also, having watched the full one...

No blood, no gore, just some guns and people falling over.

Sure it's 'violent' but it's not bloody, and after 9pm I can't see a problem, if we can advertise action movies we can sure treat this the same.
 

TylerC

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Nov 12, 2008
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coldfrog said:
"Not Actual Game Footage"

Priceless.
Yeah, the game looks much worse than that. You'd think they would've edited it out since all of the footage was taken out.
 

Stabby Joe

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Jul 30, 2008
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Andy Chalk said:
"We've worked very closely with the U.K. TV advertising regulatory body to ensure our TV ad is suitable for broadcast after 9 pm," Square Enix U.K. Marketing Director Jonh Brooke said. "After much editing and many submissions we now have a ten-second version which begins airing tomorrow - we hope you enjoy it."
AFTER 9pm? Silly me, I was under the somehow false impression that this was AFTER watershed, IE TV regulation to adult material BEFORE 8pm.

While we're at it can we cut the constant stream of phone sex adverts that clog up nearly all ad space even on normal broadcasts?

I wonder if the Expendables will get a UK TV trailer? Somehow I think they will with no problem... *sigh*
 

Cheesebob

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Oct 31, 2008
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Watched the full version...what a great trailer, it was chaotic and violent, much the like the game itself
 

Jim Grim

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Jun 6, 2009
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Hubilub said:
This almost isn't violent enough for tv.
Oh man, I want to see a world where content for television is judged like this.

OT: That was actually pretty funny. I'm not really sure what that advert is going to achieve though. If you've already heard of the game, it doesn't do much to convince you to buy it. If you haven't heard of it, you're not going to know what the fuck it is!
 

kerkanka

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Jul 16, 2010
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@ stabby joe: they do, but it's just short close ups of the characters and a little action: but no shooting or anything like that.

OT: i think in the UK violence isn't allowed in ads when it becomes killing. I've seen plenty of adverts for, as an example, Seagal films- they show him beating people up but completely omit any scenes with guns. Off the top of my head i can't think of any ad that has killing: car chases yes, mild horror yes, but no killing. I'd imagine this would be because you can choose not to watch a film or show with violence in it but you can't predict which adverts will be on so you won't be able to avoid them if you don't want to watch. I think it's fair enough really although i would prefer seeing the full ad for this game than some other adverts that have been allowed.
 

Kiefer13

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Jul 31, 2008
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That's just bloody ridiculous. The full version isn't even that violent. It's not like there's ridiculous amounts of gore or anything. I'll bet if this was a film rather than a game it would have gotten away with that level of violence in the trailer. Stupid censorship.
 

Jast

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Mar 18, 2009
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Man, after first reading the article I was kinda expecting the full trailer to have like pools of blood and spewing gore and dissmembered limbs and decapitations. After watching the full trailer I was like, "...huh." I do think that the full trailer was a little bit too much but I thought the aired trailer was a bit over kill. (heh heh over kill.)
 

Generic_Dave

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Jul 15, 2009
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Didn't seem that violent to me, looked like something channel four would show on a Sunday evening, but then again ads seem to be held to a higher standard than tv shows or movies in England (Ireland, Scotland, Wales) but on the plus side we tend to get our sex scenes played with less. But as ads go, neither really tells you anything about the game.

I mean the original. Men shoot with cops...how many games could that be?

And the 10 seconds...

The way I see it there was no way they were going to put up a 1min 30 sec ad on TV (way too expensive) so they just decided to make a really long super violent one that they knew would get spiked and garner them some free publicity, for what, to be honest looks and (from the demo)plays like a steaming pile of garbage leveraged behind a dumpster full of corpses. I mean, you can play with garbage and corpses if you want...but I don't want to be your friend.