Have you seen the new Playstation adverts? You can see them on AdCritic or AdForum. Or you can watch them right off of the TBWA web site (click here) They were aparently developed in South Africa for a North American market. (click here to see article on Marketing Web)
There’s no way I can describe them to you. They’re of the kind that need to be experienced. And everything they aim to do, they do.
Why they caught my attention is because they run pretty close to the line, in an interesting conversation emerging around the world about the influence of games and their correlation to violence. Two events spring to mind: one a young guy who murdered someone aparently out of a game experience he’d had. The other, a man who murdered someone who’d stolen a sword from him. Except the sword was stolen online as part of a game, and the guy was murdered in real life for doing it.
Personally I have mixed views on ability of a game to influence, but with the conversation growing globally, Sony Playstation is choosing an interesting moment in time to release these adverts.
We wait and see
Nuf Sed
Cannes 2005 is the pinnacle of advertising awards. There are rumours that these two adverts have been axed from the awards – seems to be some muscle flexing by TBWA London. More details here when we hear them…