Sony defends PSP ad following accusations of racism

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Dutch marketing campaign "has no other message or purpose"

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony Computer Entertainment has defended itself against accusations of racism over a controversial advert for the new 'Ceramic white' PSP.

The advert, which has appeared on billboards in the Netherlands, shows a white woman gripping a black woman by the jaw and features the slogan: "PlayStation Portable White is coming." Many websites and forum posters have protested that the advert is racist and are campaigning for its removal.

A Sony spokesperson has responded by stating that the ad does not have a racist message and that is part of a wider marketing campaign, telling GamesIndustry.biz: "The marketing campaign for the launch of the White PSP in the Benelux focuses on the contrast between the Black PSP model and the new Ceramic white PSP model."

"A variety of different treatments have been created as a campaign to either highlight the whiteness of the new model or contrast the black and the white models. Central to this campaign has been the creation of some stunningly photographed imagery, that has been used on large billboards throughout Holland."

According to the spokesperson, "All of the 100 or so images created for the campaign have been designed to show this contrast in colours of the PSPs , and have no other message or purpose."

It seems the controversial ad is unlikely to appear outside Holland, with a representative from Sony's UK office telling GI.biz: "I would like to confirm that we categorically are not running this advert creative in the UK."


Is this an Over reaction from the public or should they be rightfully offended ? :\ :rolleyes: this is the seond add that sony has caused drama about in the uk
 
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It's the social norm to believe we should be offended by anything public that advertises a white and black person together doing anything besides smiling. It's the standard, and if you don't follow the flock, you aren't politically correct. It's an overreaction, but it's the only reaction we are allowed to have.
 
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-- I only have one question-- was this type of advertisement really necessary ? -- ask yourself that Sony, is exactly what i would say to them right about now.

What a bunch of idiots, seriously-- either that, or their marketing geniuses-- making this a form of hype. Which would basically be a sheer outcry for any kind of publicity that will help them later on this year.

Im going to go with the first one though.
 
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i never heard of the drama... and i live in the uk :x

From a graphic design/advertisement point of view, its clever, and effective at getting across the message. However, it seems society just isnt ready for something like this to be acceptable, a lot of people have too many hang ups about race as it is atm, this'll just antagonise some people. Its a bold advertising dessicision, they're much braver than most.
 
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Diamond Princess said:
-- I only have one question-- was this type of advertisement really necessary ? -- ask yourself that Sony, is exactly what i would say to them right about now.

What a bunch of idiots, seriously-- either that, or their marketing geniuses-- making this a form of hype. Which would basically be a sheer outcry for any kind of publicity that will help them later on this year.

Im going to go with the first one though.

but dont u think they overreacted, its just a commercial :D
 
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It seems the controversial ad is unlikely to appear outside Holland
The Dutch are so far ahead of us, it's not even funny...
 
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but dont u think they overreacted, its just a commercial
-- Well i never said that this wasn't another form of an public overreaction-- but i do believe that Sony knew exactly what they were doing when they allowed that advertisement to go through-- it's common sense that advert's like this would bring on a negative reaction from the public, and cause a problem for them.

So in my opinion, i think it goes abit deeper then just being a racially unaccepted form of advertisement.
 
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Diamond Princess said:
-- Well i never said that this wasn't another form of an public overreaction-- but i do believe that Sony knew exactly what they were doing when they allowed to advertisement to be go through-- it's common sense that advert's like this would bring on a negative reaction from the public, and cause a problem for them.

So in my opinion, i think it goes abit deeper then just being a racially unaccepted form of advertisement.
I wonder how many people from the Netherlands actually found this advert offensive, it's a different culture!
I guess we are just abit more open minded about stuff like that and sony plays into that

Nothing wrong here to be honest
 
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I have to stand by Prozac, I see nothing wrong here, all I see is an ad.

I see no, hidden messages or whatever. It could be psychological though, like the Rorschach inkblot test....

And I wanna bet if it was the other way around it would be "Gangsta"
 
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DPredator said:
And I wanna bet if it was the other way around it would be "Gangsta"
Oh my..


I think the ads look pretty awesome.
 

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I personally don't think there's anything wrong with the ad, but I can see why people would say that there is. Sony knows that this ad wouldn't be accepted in America, hence why they never used it here. Let them be.
 
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Prozac said:
I wonder how many people from the Netherlands actually found this advert offensive, it's a different culture!
I guess we are just abit more open minded about stuff like that and sony plays into that

Nothing wrong here to be honest
You guys probably are alot more open minded, nothing against that myself-- i just think they could've avoided people proclaiming racism and campaigning for its removal and ect-- just by showing a highly anticipated PSP title, as well as shot of the White PSP and release date and be done with it. I just don't really feel it was worth dealing with the commotion, that's all. They have enough of problems as it is right now.
 
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Diamond Princess said:
You guys probably are alot more open minded, nothing against that myself-- i just think they could've avoided people proclaiming racism and campaigning for its removal and ect-- just by showing a highly anticipated PSP title, as well as shot of the White PSP and release date and be done with it. I just don't really feel it was worth dealing with the commotion, that's all. They have enough of problems as it is right now.
They are trying to be different, also this will get new people to maybe get it isntead of the same old geeks getting the third remake of some crappy game

anyway, what do critics in the UK have to say about advertisement in the netherlands
The UK has more then enough problems themselfs, let them focus on that first!

[edit] Bleh, sorry I make it sound kinda harsh, I'm not trying to offend anyone here
 
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what are these problems in the uk o_O....?
 
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Davidskiwan said:
what are these problems in the uk o_O....?
I'm not allowed to make political statements o_o
they tend to cause flame wars and I really don't want to cause one
 
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I can see how someone might say that it's racist but tbh i wouldn't have thought of it as racist if i just saw it on a billboard, but sony could've easily changed that to something else. Another thing they aren't really fighting if anything..... (ahem)
 
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It's just an add, If someone thinks it's racist then don't buy the white PSP *****.
 
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Prozac said:
I'm not allowed to make political statements o_o
they tend to cause flame wars and I really don't want to cause one
Its just im not sure what you could mean by problems :x i mean, we're a very multi-cultural society here, I dont see how there could be any problems in regards to race (except from idiotic extremist groups like the bnp and such).

This is just another example of unreasonable political correctness imo. What was the other add that caused a drama? I havent heard anyone talk about sony at all except for ps3 hype. I dont think its been mentioned on the news or anything :scared:
 
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o_O

I'm Dutch, and I've never seen these ads before.

Then again, I tend to mentally blur out ads that I happen to walk past, because they annoy me.

They don't seem offensive to me. Some people just love to overreact. I think it's a nice contrast to have, and it's not like all of them display a white woman doing something to a black woman - just look at the one Smith posted.
 
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Lawl, clipseh just showed me this:



I think the ad is stupid, racist or not...
 

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