October 3, 2002

6:44 PM

Now That's An Ad Campaign! Sure, it may not be responsible, but chalk one up for the "shameless marketing" department. Still, the question begs; "is any press, good press"? Any way you slice it, road fatalities != cool.
posted by Dark Messiah (23 comments total)

Now that's a Marketing campaign and you've just been suckered into posting it to a major discussion site!
posted by Stan Chin at 6:45 PM on October 3, 2002

Sorry, forgot to post previous Mefi Acclaim Publicity Stunt thread.
posted by Stan Chin at 6:47 PM on October 3, 2002

This one is different, this one is breaking laws.

Sorry for wasting valuable seconds of your otherwise bereft social life, Stan.
posted by Dark Messiah at 6:49 PM on October 3, 2002

Apology accepted.

Oh, from the article:

I just hope for their sakes that none of these people ends up knocking down a child.

Dear god, but think of the children!
posted by Stan Chin at 6:52 PM on October 3, 2002

I just hope for their sakes that none of these people ends up knocking down a child.

If this happens, MeFi will make sure everyone knows...
posted by Dark Messiah at 6:56 PM on October 3, 2002

Acclaim spokesman Shaun White said the company did not condone speeding but wanted to "ease the financial pain a bit."

But that is exactly what they are doing. By freeing the speeder from the punishment (the fine) Acclaim is saying it is OK to speed. It is like if you were to steal a candy bar and some stranger went ahead and paid for it so you wouldn't get in trouble.

I tell you what, if someone else was willing to pay my fine, I would be extremely tempted to floor it on the interstate.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:03 PM on October 3, 2002

More than that, SLoG -- they're not merely saying that it is OK to speed, they're willfully encouraging disregard for the law, which sends a message of advocacy. "Speeding is good!"

That's just downright revolutionary talk right there. And it's stupid.
posted by cortex at 7:23 PM on October 3, 2002

By freeing the speeder from the punishment (the fine) Acclaim is saying it is OK to speed.

I don't know how speeding tickets work in the UK, but in most U.S. states, the fine could be argued to be the smallest part of the punishment. The increased insurance costs and loss of "points" are much more impactful.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:25 PM on October 3, 2002

My kids love the first Burnout for the GameCube. The whole game's an endorsement of driving wildly through normal traffic, and it has the most realistic crashes I've ever seen in a game. You run into all kinds of normal cars -- it's quite alarming to see your children and their friends squeal with glee after a particularly gruesome head-on collision with a minivan.
posted by rcade at 7:25 PM on October 3, 2002

Damn, I could see the angle in paying for speeding tickets from a previous date . . . but for future tickets? That must be illegal, at least I know it is in the US. Maybe Acclaim's lawyers were getting bored and wanted to liven things up for themselves.

Attention Players of Burnout 2: Point of Impact
Have you injured yourself or others after playing this game? Has your arrest left you unable to get a good job? If so, please call the following number to be part of a class-action lawsuit.
posted by SimStupid at 7:29 PM on October 3, 2002

(switches to serious non-snarky mode)

It does set a serious precedent and disturbing angle on the entire issue of "Do Video Games cause Violent Behavior."

Previously, many of us game supporters could easily dismiss wild claims by parent councils and senators on the sheer basis that "It's just a ridiculous idea!"

However, Acclaim is basically admitting here that their video games do have an effect on real life behavior, and on top of that encouraging it. To draw a similar analogy, imagine if iD software paid your bail fee for shooting up your school in order to promote Doom.
posted by Stan Chin at 7:32 PM on October 3, 2002

SimStupid: nice reference. awesome book.
posted by jaded at 7:37 PM on October 3, 2002

Acclaim is basically admitting here that their video games do have an effect on real life behavior

No, they say in the story that people who like to drive fast are attracted to their game. That isn't the same as their game causes people to want to drive fast.
posted by willnot at 7:53 PM on October 3, 2002

if a member of my family got killed because of some speeding idiot (happens all the time) -

-AND-

if said idiot did so on "Acclaim(tm) Speeding Amnesty Day"

-THEN-

i would sue the motherliving shit out of Acclaim. i'm talking Alan Dershowitz-style reaming.

(. . . maybe that's why they're not doing it in the U.S. . . )
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 7:59 PM on October 3, 2002

man, the devil is running the show down here on earth.
posted by SpaceCadet at 8:56 PM on October 3, 2002

That's not really advertising, it's promotion, certainly, but advertising is just one aspect of marketing. This is a marketing gimmick.
posted by Grod at 8:57 PM on October 3, 2002

I remember this one time, after playing Donkey Kong for a long time, my sister and I went out and starting throwing barrels down stairwells to make people jump over them. Instead they just all got hurt - but in a funny way. I learned a lot that summer about gravity and velocity, and timing. Man, those were good times....

Of course they expected a backlash. It's all about the *demographic*, baby. Now the smart money is on a lot of people who get caught, and never play the game, remembering this and getting a refund check from the company. Without proof of purchase of the game, this seems a good way for a company to use a lot of money for no reason.
posted by Salmonberry at 8:57 PM on October 3, 2002

Salmonberry, I'm totally with you! I remember a great summer I had, years ago - whenever I saw a mushroom, I'd jump on it and squish it, and whenever I saw a turtle, I'd do the same, and laugh and laugh as it retracted its head and walked blindly back and forth between two obstacles. Sometimes, I'd jump on the turtle again and force it to become an unwilling missile which would knock over other turtles and mushrooms!

I shouldn't be flip, though. It's only a matter of time before somebody discovers a connection between the random shootings in Bethesda and GTA3.
posted by GriffX at 9:08 PM on October 3, 2002

You guys had cool childhoods. My brother and I would just bat a white square back and forth between two moving walls until one of us missed, then do the same thing all over again.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:13 PM on October 3, 2002

Speed doesn't kill.

It's the deceleration that does.
posted by shepd at 9:33 PM on October 3, 2002

wow. all I had to play with as a kid was an old tire and some dirt.

That didn't stop me from pretending I was a space captain, though.

A space captain marooned on a desert planet with only dirt and an old tire, but still...
posted by jaded at 9:41 PM on October 3, 2002

Oh, and yeah, when I was a kid I used to steal F1 racers. Strangely enough a blimp would float by each time and it would say something in Japanese really loudly, and then a christmas tree would sprout up and hover in mid-air as it cycled red/amber/green with this weird doot-doot-beep sound. Then I'd start driving and all the lines on the road would turn to an epileptic red/white combination. The only problem was the moment I touched anything, like a sign or another car I would explode immediately. Or, if I hit a water patch I would spin out uncontrollably, and usually explode. And my F1 racers only seemed to have two gears...

Bummer. I think it's time for my medication...

/me unwraps another packet of Rockets... MMMMM... Medication never tasted so good!
posted by shepd at 9:44 PM on October 3, 2002

Theyve won already, as the old dictum aplies: 'no such thing as bad publicity'. It'll be retracted by the Company, blaming young & enthusiastic fun creative types.

[Maybe so for this puff piece, too].
posted by dash_slot- at 9:49 PM on October 3, 2002