Magazine Ads

[consumer]

I've always felt like I have lived in an adequately civilized time, but as I perused some of the video game ads from yesteryear I became increasingly aware of an exceptional lack of ethics in advertising video games during the years I was growing up! Anybody else notice how many Sega vs. Nintendo ads were literally encouraging the one brands supporters to attack the others (pummeling, punching, bullying, etc.)? Both sides seemed to have done this. Or how about Nintendo Power essentially telling us not to socialize with "dweebs" to learn video game tips?--only Nintendo Power is the source!  Oh my! Its funny how much time enlightens the mind. There is no way I would have noticed these things when I was young and a casual reader of these magazines. In any case, I hope advertising has grown ethically over the years, because I find some of these advertisements offensive, and sadly, damaging.  Wonder how many people were hurt over these things? I'm really stunned they were aimed at kids. Maybe I'm just being a pussy! I better get the latest copy of Mortal Kombat and forget it.

[kitsunebi]

What you say is true, but the voluminous number of ads that dehumanize women and depict them as sex objects/pieces of meat are far more prevalent and damaging in my opinion. 

[Data]

What you say is true, but the voluminous number of ads that dehumanize women and depict them as sex objects/pieces of meat are far more prevalent and damaging in my opinion. 

First let me check my white privilege at the door.  I am a white male whose parents were both educated and as a result it has afforded me many valuable things in which I do not take for granted.

 

The reason why advertising of videogames targeted males with images of attractive women is because over 90% of the target audience is male.  It's true that women are in ads and its true they do look very attractive and sometimes needlessly provocative but to say they are dehumanized is exaggerated at best.

[kitsunebi]

The reason why advertising of videogames targeted males with images of attractive women is because over 90% of the target audience is male.  It's true that women are in ads and its true they do look very attractive and sometimes needlessly provocative but to say they are dehumanized is exaggerated at best.

 

We'll agree to disagree, then.  But please don't think that it makes a bit of difference even if 100% of the target audience is male.  It is still promoting the idea that women are merely sex objects (sometimes the ads don't even show the womens' heads and just focus on more provocative body parts).  Men are just as susceptible to being negatively influenced by that kind of advertising as women, albeit in a different way. 

 

Don't get me wrong, as an educated adult they don't really bother me and I can appreciate the humor in some of the ads, but it doesn't change the fact that they can negatively influence a child's perception of women if they're being constantly bombarded by such ads.

[Data]

We'll agree to disagree, then.  But please don't think that it makes a bit of difference even if 100% of the target audience is male.  It is still promoting the idea that women are merely sex objects (sometimes the ads don't even show the womens' heads and just focus on more provocative body parts).  Men are just as susceptible to being negatively influenced by that kind of advertising as women, albeit in a different way. 

 

Don't get me wrong, as an educated adult they don't really bother me and I can appreciate the humor in some of the ads, but it doesn't change the fact that they can negatively influence a child's perception of women if they're being constantly bombarded by such ads.

 

I do agree to disagree,    although if we continue making things politically correct the product will be rejected for something that is more visceral in my opinion whether it is an anime, a perfume, a mate or even a president.

[kitsunebi]

I do agree to disagree,    although if we continue making things politically correct the product will be rejected for something that is more visceral in my opinion whether it is an anime, a perfume, a mate or even a president.

 

Well, none of those things are really being aimed at kids (except for anime, although outside of Japan it is often marketed towards a teen audience).  I was just replying to the OP and agreeing that many types of game ads weren't sending positive messages to the children they were targeting.

[Data]

Well, none of those things are really being aimed at kids (except for anime, although outside of Japan it is often marketed towards a teen audience).  I was just replying to the OP and agreeing that many types of game ads weren't sending positive messages to the children they were targeting.

If something is aimed at kids then it should be up to the parents to guide them to what they believe is morally superior.  I tend to think that parents these days are becoming what we call here "helicopter parents".  This means that they are sheltered from reality for so long that when they become adults they lack the coping skills to deal with conflict or loss.

 

OP asks, "Anybody else notice how many Sega vs. Nintendo ads were literally encouraging the one brands supporters to attack the others (pummeling, punching, bullying, etc.)?"

No, I have not honestly seen this level of hostility in these old magazines.  As a Genesis owner I did have to participate in the banter from SNES owners and how they felt they had the better console.  I could always say things like, well at least there is fighting in the NHL games or they didn't edit out the blood but what it was to me was simply a memory of growing up.

[kitsunebi]

Yeah, I don't recall ads inciting violence against other gamers off the top of my head, but there definitely were a lot of ads that seemed to be more about trashing the opposition than actually promoting their own products.  As a kid it was natural to try to convince yourself that yours was the best system, since you couldn't afford to own more than one (unless you were that spoiled kid that nobody liked).  But as an adult with a job, that sort of thing becomes trivial since you can afford to own all the systems if you so choose.

 

As my last comment on the over-sexualization in game ads, I'll say that maybe part of the problem was simply a lack of equal representation.    As an experiment, I tried to create an ad that would rectify this, but I don't know...I wonder if there would be anyone out there that would find one acceptable but not the other?  Surely not?

 

[Data]

First of all, we need some more emoticons.  One which represents poking one's eyes out.    Second that game came out in 2012 and I was under the impression that this was about 80's 90's.  Third, this is of poor taste and I personally dont like it but I believe in freedom of speech.

[kitsunebi]

Second that game came out in 2012 and I was under the impression that this was about 80's 90's.  Third, this is of poor taste and I personally dont like it but I believe in freedom of speech.

 

The OP wondered if gaming ads had grown more responsible since the 80s/90s and I suggested that they haven't.  Case in point.

 

You're right though, it is pretty tasteless.  And it doesn't even advertise the game.  I mean, sure, there are boobs in the game, but it isn't a game about boobs, which is really the only impression you could take away from the ad if you didn't already know what type of game it was.  Off the top of my head I can think of several other similar ads that consist of nothing but a close-up of boobs, so tasteless or not, I guess it was deemed an effective marketing strategy.

 

 

 

[Data]

I feel the post was about moral preening and virtue signaling than it was about substance.  I guess I would fit under OP's definition of "damaged" because I feel I came out of this just fine.

[Sean697]

There were a few ads I felt were pretty bad, like the naked lady Saturn ad I think. But they were mostly harmless. Some were tasteless. I feel the stuff in the late 90's and into the 2000's were the worst. In the early to mid 90's there were at least aimed more towards kids.

[consumer]

I really should prepare a bit better, so I can cite the ads (issue/page numbers) I have in mind. As it stands, if you're interested in what I've pointed out, you'll just have to pay attention to ads yourself. I agree that for the most part, the ads are innocent enough.  I just felt a handful crossed basic decency lines in a few instances I noticed while looking a few mags over.  The "bullying" ad that stands out in my mind is an ad that was printed in Nintendo Power for a while.  The ad shows a distorted picture of a young freckled adolescent boy.  The dialogue next to the ad is, presumably, the voice of the frail looking kid and the rhetoric essentially paints him as an annoying wannabe-chum trying to discourage the reader from subscribing to Nintendo Power, because they can get tips from him instead.  Be it irony, sarcasm, or whatever you want to call it- at points, the dialogue directly discourages you from subscribing to NP, but contrarily encourages you to subscribe, so that you can break association with the annoying kid that likes to talk video games.  I'm sure I would have laughed at the ad, and neglected/ignored the real kids at my school that this ad symbolically represented.  And yes, that is dehumanizing.  I agree with the folks that have been posing that women were prevalent in ads, but that it also makes sense, since pubescent young men are the primary target audience.  But, I also agree that *some* ads were, in fact, dehumanizing toward woman (and people in general) as well.  I cannot cite the exact location at the moment, but there is an ad, probably in EGM (and others) which shows an obese couple lounging in a pool.  The male has a big cheesy grin.  Over the man are words, not verbatim, but to the effect of, "Karl is happy because Lenore was in heat last night." Above his likewise obese girlfriend/wife/sister are the words, "This isn't Lenore."  Funny as that may be (I chuckle slightly writing this), it is also dehumanizing and quite an attack on the institutions of Marriage and relationship fidelity/honor generally.  Btw, an ad doesn't have to be so direct as to say "go beat somebody up," to be encouraging violence.  What was common to a the few ads I noticed was a basic acknowledgment of bullying, a kind of sanctioning of those acts, as I see it.  I'm not saying we need  to start a congressionally hearing, I just wanted to point out that advertisers can tend toward some pretty unscrupulous tactics.  The major irony, I thought, was that their most devoted consumers could easily (because of their consumption) be classified as socially awkward nerds.  Look for it.

[Data]

I have read these magazines for a decade through the 90's and I was never offended.  It seems like if you were in charge of the magazine it would end up so politically correct that nobody would buy it.

[lepkeleh]

We'll agree to disagree, then. But please don't think that it makes a bit of difference even if 100% of the target audience is male. It is still promoting the idea that women are merely sex objects (sometimes the ads don't even show the womens' heads and just focus on more provocative body parts). Men are just as susceptible to being negatively influenced by that kind of advertising as women, albeit in a different way.

Don't get me wrong, as an educated adult they don't really bother me and I can appreciate the humor in some of the ads, but it doesn't change the fact that they can negatively influence a child's perception of women if they're being constantly bombarded by such ads.

Lol no it doesn't and you don't become a "sexist" by simply enjoying the opposite sex. It is not "problematic" to enjoy sex either and if you don't think women enjoy the same when it comes to men then think again.

Your reasoning btw has been debunked so many times even in actual research just as with game "violence" it is just tiresome to read these days. Ignorant criticism like that is why E3 sucks today and games are made worse, a real shame especially for all of us who love gaming.

[lepkeleh]

I feel the post was about moral preening and virtue signaling than it was about substance. I guess I would fit under OP's definition of "damaged" because I feel I came out of this just fine.

You are normal.

[lepkeleh]

I have read these magazines for a decade through the 90's and I was never offended. It seems like if you were in charge of the magazine it would end up so politically correct that nobody would buy it.

Then people wonder why print is going under, digital and the internet for sure plays a big part but just as much if not more is the PC police. There is a reason why so many people want to read "retro" magazines these days besides nostalgia.

[kitsunebi]

Hey, no worries. America agrees with you and encourages you to ignore the PC police and just GRAB 'EM BY THE PUSSY. So long as you enjoy it, how could it be wrong?

[lepkeleh]

Hey, no worries. America agrees with you and encourages you to ignore the PC police and just GRAB 'EM BY THE PUSSY. So long as you enjoy it, how could it be wrong?

Everyone is sick of virtue signaling by SJW's such as yourself and even more sick of reading opinions on the election that has been on everywhere for more than a year at this point. Whatever you decide give me a heads up because I am only here for retro and mags, thank you.

(I guess Trump was a yuuuge gamer and that is why he grabs 'em by the pussy, your logical reasoning at work.)

[Data]

Hey, no worries. America agrees with you and encourages you to ignore the PC police and just GRAB 'EM BY THE PUSSY. So long as you enjoy it, how could it be wrong?

Do you always tape people in the bathroom like what was done in this video?  Just wondering cause I know Ive said some stupid shit.

[Shinkanpo]

I remembered the sarcastic, adds back then but I think it is just made in jest, I don't think video game adds should be held on the same standards as a presidential speech or a political rally.