THQ In Hot Water Over Homefront Marketing

[Korey Von Doom]

I hardly think this was entirely an accident, creating controversy is the new marketing scene for gaming.

 

[RUINER ACTUAL]

NOOOOO!!!! Not balloons!!! Those people in Cali are so full of themselves. Isn't their state in bankruptcy? You have bigger problems than balloons you tree hugging hippies.

 

[AgentBJ09]

"We understand the concerns consumers have regarding the impact balloons can have on the environment. However, the balloon drop stunt in San Francisco was created by THQ, the publisher of Homefront, and GameStop had no prior knowledge of it. THQ has since informed us that they released soy-based, biodegradable balloons."

"It's biodegradable over time, but a bird can still get entangled in it right now. A sea lion could be curious about it, bite it and swallow it. It could clog their stomach and cause them to die--right now. Biodegradable takes time to happen."

Hmm. THQ may be in some hot water on this, but I don't see ill intentions here. They didn't double check some laws, which people sometimes do, but if they do get in some trouble, they'll be fine. They're a large publisher, after all.

My worry is Kaos Studios, and how this could impact them. By extension, this event could affect Kaos as well as THQ in terms of sales. Either way, I have the game preordered, my money ready to go, and I'm crossing my fingers on this game making enough good sales despite this.

 

[Broken Blade]

Oh great. Let's add another item to the pile of failed marketing ideas. Oy.

And hey, that's my bay getting balloons in it. :\ I don't like balloons in my bay.

 

[Raziel_Likes_Souls]

How come I haven't seen a game commercial in ages? Other M got a commercial, why not Homefront? Surely Homefront is a bit above Other M, to the degree that it could at least get a commercial.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

okay well they've made progress now they just have to make the advertisements not suck, the first piece of advice I would give them is for the love of God don't in-house the advertisements we've seen what happens, preferably what they should do is hire the people that make the Geico commercials to do them an add.

Indeed. Let's just hope that nobody gets any "smart ideas" where we end up with a planned Mom's Hate Dead Space sitcom or they've gone too far haha!

I want to say that somewhere on TV I saw an ad for Homefront, but it did not look good at all to me. Subjectively, the game looked dated and trite. The Korean Red Dawn approach makes me remember Turning Point: Call of Liberty (Oh why?!?), which is a connection that nobody ever wants to make, even by a smidgen.

 

[beema]

stupid stupid stupid

they must be one of those places that doesn't have anybody checking over their promotions dept. "Oh hey, I have an idea! let's just plow ahead with it without sorting out consequences!"

Well, I already knew GameStop was dumb and evil, but for shame THQ!

Let's hope for a rapid degrading cycle on these balloons. The environment really doesn't need anything else shitting on it right now.

Also, wtf kind of gaming promotion releases a bunch of balloons? That's rather... odd... out of place... anachronistic?
Maybe someone in their promo dept. had just watched UP! and got all jazzed up.
I'm glad they at least had the thought to use biodegradable balloons, it could of been worse.

 

[Tony2077]

I guess THQ was going for the "It is better to seek forgivness, than to ask permission" approch.

that a Gibbs rule isn't it and guess i can officially say that common sense is dead

 

[Weaver]

So, marketers for video game companies just exist in their own fantasy realities right?
Remember when Zynga blew up that van to promote mafia wars? Remember that actor Ubisoft hired to go into bars?

Is it too much to ask your marketing simply not be illegal?

 

[Athol]

I guess THQ was going for the "It is better to seek forgivness, than to ask permission" approch.

that a Gibbs rule isn't it and guess i can officially say that common sense is dead

He does use it, but it predates NCIS

 

[pyroghast]

hippie: this is a catastrophic man is gonna like kill the ocean
normal citizen: these balloons are biodegradable
hippie: it doesn't matter man the wildlife is like doomed this is the worst disaster the ocans ever seen
citizen: what about the bp oil spill
hippie: dude your harshing my mellow

 

[Tony2077]

I guess THQ was going for the "It is better to seek forgivness, than to ask permission" approch.

that a Gibbs rule isn't it and guess i can officially say that common sense is dead

He does use it, but it predates NCIS

i know that it's just the last place i saw use it

 

[Thedarkness77]

Do people in the marketing depaertment not think?

 

[Joshimodo]

A sea lion could climb onto land and a tree could fall on it.

Quickly, let's complain about, ban, and eradicate trees!


Etc.

Do people in the marketing depaertment not think?

Of course they do.

You may notice you're posting in a news topic. Homefront has again been publicised across the internet and likely local newspapers.

Ergo, marketing.

 

[duchaked]

"It's still trash," Bauer said. "It's biodegradable over time, but a bird can still get entangled in it right now. A sea lion could be curious about it, bite it and swallow it. It could clog their stomach and cause them to die--right now. Biodegradable takes time to happen."

I zoned out and stopped caring the moment I got to that part haa

 

[duchaked]

NOOOOO!!!! Not balloons!!! Those people in Cali are so full of themselves. Isn't their state in bankruptcy? You have bigger problems than balloons you tree hugging hippies.

as much as I want to visit Cali sometime soon......chyeahh