Namco Apologizes for "Inexcusable" Chilean Miner Welcome

[fozzy360]

Going back to the example of Earthquake congratulating earthquake survivors, that isn't the same as this. In the first case, scores of people may have seriously been killed or maimed. In this case, we have 33 minors who miraculously survived for 69 days underground. Their story is now historic, and none of them died. They're all doing well. There's joy to be had for these folks, and Namco was just doing their part to spread that around. As someone already mentioned, this is a lot better than politicians showing up to lend their "support.". You think they give a rat's ass about them?

Besides, who exactly complained?

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Thank you liberal PC politics. We can't even make nice things for people because it might offend someone...

 

[wolfister]

That's..um...quite...offensive?

Seriously though I think that is really awesome I mean yes it a little self serving, but on the hole it is a character that is a miner welcoming back those who were trapped underground. Which is like I said pretty awesome.

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

Actually, this is... almost heartwarming. Why in the world would anyone find the image of a miner looking triumphant an offensive way to celebtrate the triumph of some miners? It doesn't any sense to me.

 

[OANST]

It was obviously well intentioned, and anyone getting upset about it is simply a douchebag.

or, you know, slightly on the edge after being stuck in a mine for 69 days.

I don't personally think it's tasteless, but I might change my mind if I had to go through the same ordeal that they did.

I doubt that it was the miners who were complaining.

 

[Nakovalen]

There is nothing offensive about it. The intention was nice, but Mr.Driller is not a known character here in Chile, so the message would've not been clear. Confusing messages like Namco's will be hard to distinguish with the loads of distasteful media like the dildo joke (thou it was funny none the less).

 

[Andy Chalk]

can't see any reason for rescued miners to be a jerk about it.

To be clear, it wasn't the miners who complained. At least, I'm assuming it wasn't; I doubt they're even aware of its existence. Who did complain, we don't know, and it could've been a preemptive thing, some uptight nancy at Namco saw it and decided for himself that it was offensive and got the wheels turning. Who knows? It's just unfortunate that what should have been a good-natured thumbs-up from the other side of the world gets turned into... well, something.

 

[King_Serpent]

No, that really is not bad. In fact I feel it is pretty good sign. Still thats my opinion.

 

[UtopiaV1]

It's the equivalent of this:

HEY NEW ORLEANS, CONGRATS ON SURVIVING HURRICANE KATRINA!!!

I'll leave you to figure out if that's offensive.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Doesn't seem that tasteless to me. I'd chalk it up to the human nature of always wanting someone to put-down on. Finding that image offensive seems to stem from the same logic that has some people harping endlessly about Disney being racist (sometimes they have a very slight point in their logic, but 90% of arguments I've seen on that are such stretches that you have to try to be offended).

 

[The Random One]

Particularly, if I was trapped in a mine for 69 days, I'd be flipping off anyone who tried to 'congratulate' me who didn't know me personally before.

I don't think it's inexcusable, though. Just dickish.

 

[Andy Chalk]

But nobody's "congratulating" anyone. It's "welcome back."

And the Twister/New Orleans comparison is just as off-base as the Earthquake one. A true equivalent would use pictures of, say, a rescue worker or an Army engineer.

The more I think about it, the more I conclude that the real problem is that people these days can't figure out what's offensive, so they just latch on to anything that might possibly be offensive to someone, somewhere. Like anything else in life, if you look for trouble, eventually you'll find it.

 

[UtopiaV1]

But nobody's "congratulating" anyone. It's "welcome back."

Welcome back? To where? To above-ground? Where normal people live? Are you saying Chilian miners aren't real people? You make me sick!!!

Only joshing. I see your point, and fully agree to be honest. We don't really know if it's offensive or not though, we'll just have to ask to miners themselves instead of making assumptions. All I know is, I would be pissed if someone I never met before in my life gave me a 'welcome back' card after waking up from a coma. It's not seemingly offensive, but tacky and in poor taste.

Must be why they pulled it. Same reason the Taliban name has been pulled from the new Medal of Honour. My army mate is still pissed off that someone is making assumptions about what would offend him in a video game. Plus he can't buy it on base now.

 

[JacobPlackett]

None of you find it tasteless because you are all Gamers and want to see your little medium represented by a company nobody except gamers have heard about.

This IS offensive. The thing those Chilean miners don't want to see after spending a long time underground is Mr Driller.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

It's because Mr. Driller is a miner, and no one's good enough at the game to make him not die over... and over... and over... and over...

Well then you've never seen me play Mr. Driller.[footnote]I've never actually even heard of Mr. Driller until now.[/footnote]

Um... well, let's put it like this. Imagine if there was a big sign that said "welcome back!" and then right underneath it, there was a big advertisement for Halo: Reach or something. It seems like people trying to make money off of a tragedy... but then again, this is a 10 year old game so I don't really see the point in advertising it and it could have been a genuine welcoming... who knows.

 

[Rallion]

Maybe it's offensive because it's lighthearted and fun. I mean, sure, to me that sounds like the best kind of welcome when a large group of people make it out of a terrifying situation without losing a single person, but maybe some people disagree.

 

[Unknower]

Is this horribly, terribly and horrendously inexcusable too?

 

[The Rascal King]

Inexcusable? This is hilarious! I swear, people get butthurt over the dumbest of things.

 

[Sarah Kerrigan]

How is this offensive?

 

[Pingieking]

I think it's a nice thing Namco did.
Probably just a case of really bad cultural misunderstanding. Perhaps the Chileans thought that the cartoon character was going to be raped by tentacles or something.