Playstation ad tops CNN outrageous list
by Blake Snow 
{ Dec 30th 2005 at 10:45AM }
Sony's controversial Playstation ad tops
CNN's list of the 14 most outrageous ads of 2005. From the article: "After some Catholic groups complained, Sony
apologized for this Italian ad for its PlayStation game console, saying that 'the spirit of the message was
misunderstood.' The tagline under the picture translates to 'Ten years of passion,' and the figure's crown of thorns
shows the PlayStation logo."Always difficult to misunderstand the "spirit" of an advertising message.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
bearattack @ Dec 30th 2005 11:01AM
Sony.... settle down, now you got god pissed. Way to go, your really starting to piss people and divine entities off.
And quit spray painting stuff.... Man.
Show me some gameplay screen shots of killzone, I want the truth!!!
bearattack @ Dec 30th 2005 11:05AM
gameplay screenshots!!! Not this "california raisins" bullS$#!T
Those were not real california raisins, they were clay!
DG @ Dec 30th 2005 11:23AM
Wow...Sony's got balls releasing that ad in Italy. Good for them. If they released that in America? Jeez. I think the government might actually expel all Sony products from our shores, given the current political environment.
Personally? I think it's the only clever thing Sony has done in the past ten years. Good for them.
Tmeister @ Dec 30th 2005 11:35AM
Rabid right-wing church fanatics need to lighten up a little for the sake of art, because that ad is actually provacatively ingenious in my opinion. Reminds me of the vatican's response to Madonna's 'Like a Prayer' back in the day...
Yeah, now that I think of it, the church is still pretty far out in its policies (no birth control allowed... hello...?! *knocks head*)
theNotoriousBEN @ Dec 30th 2005 11:39AM
As a Christian, I just didn't find this ad offensive enough. What would really convince me to buy a PS3 is some hardcore blasphemy; say a man with an X, O, circle, and triangle engraved on nails which affix him to a cross.
Toxico @ Dec 30th 2005 11:41AM
Y'a eu pas mal de bruit autour cette publicit?t je trouve ?totalement stupide, c'est bon faut arr?r ce n'est qu'une publicit?ien de plus ! J'comprends que certaines personnes soient choqu?, mais faut pas trop en faire !
[Jesse] @ Dec 30th 2005 1:05PM
Okay, Toxico. This is what I got from my dashboard widget:
Y' had not badly noise around this publicity and I find that completely stupid, it is good is necessary to stop it is only one publicity nothing more! I understand that certain people are shocked, but is not necessary too much to make some!
nod @ Dec 30th 2005 1:29PM
What's next, swasitkas?
In all seriousness, the ad maybe a bit misguided, but the Catholic church needs to get that 2000 year old stick out of its ass, and people need to stop kissing their ring, if you get my meaning.
Todd @ Dec 30th 2005 1:38PM
Ok then, what was the spirit of the message? Was it even Jesus Christ would love to have a Playstation? Was it that the same passion that Christ felt is what we feel as a game company? Hmmm? Help me out here because I can't seem to find a way to put a positive spin on the message that they are saying exists in this ad.
Oh, and it is an ad...not art. An idea dreamed up by a designer and chosen by supervisors and distributed to the masses for the purpose of selling a product might have an artistic quality to it, but it never can be considered art. Calling something offensive art is the general cop out used by snobbish people who consider themselves open-minded. Its generally meant to convey that those people that consider it offensive are dim-witted, while those who recognize it as art are above the thoughtless masses.
The ZeroCorpse @ Dec 30th 2005 2:20PM
How is this offensive? Is Jesus the ONLY person in history who ever wore a crown of thorns?
And who cares if he was (which he wasn't) anyway? Televangelists misuse Jesus' image to sell prayer beads, annointed handkerchiefs, pamphlets, or false healing items, and no Xtians seem to have a problem with that.
Of course, I'm not like Sony much, either. Their recent string of advertising has been annoying and insincere.
So basically, screw the whining fundies, and screw Sony. They're both deluded.
The ZeroCorpse @ Dec 30th 2005 2:24PM
#8
Now THERE we go! The next Sony controller should swap out the triangle, circle, square, and X for a swastika, star of david, crucifix, and crescent moon!
Call it the Culture Shock instead of the Dual Shock.
Spank @ Dec 30th 2005 2:28PM
WWJP?
(What Would Jesus Play?)
bearattack @ Dec 30th 2005 3:09PM
Jesus would play, wolfinstien.
Todd @ Dec 30th 2005 3:22PM
ZeroCorpse, I agree with you on the misuse of Jesus' image to sell anything. I tried to tell anyone I could to not buy WWJD stuff from anywhere. It's best to make it themselves. It was just the latest sales craze that Chinese importers caught on to. Look in any import catalog and you'll see a section of WWJD printed on just about everything.
Also the ad really didn't offend me at all. Mostly it made me shake my head and think that somebody just lost a job or at least got a really good chewing out for it. Sony really has been the king of greenlighting bad ideas this past year.
Jeramy @ Dec 30th 2005 3:35PM
uh, yeah Tmeister, i'm sure with you roaming around joystiq's forums that you sure need to use birth control a lot...
EatingPie @ Dec 30th 2005 10:24PM
It's too bad this badly-conceived ad turned into a Church, Christian and Government bashing in the forum here.
I cannot find anything positive about this message at all, especially considering the absolute stupidity of the crown of thorns with a Sony slogan on it. Sheesh.
On the question about Passion. I suspect this is, indeed, what Sony was going for... but you need concept AND execution, and they kinda blew the latter.
The term "Passion," as in "passionate love," or "embracing life with passion" derives DIRECTLY from the Passion of Christ. I believe this is because the love Christ has for humanity (you and I) was so powerfully expressed in his willingness to endure such a terrible passion (suffering) on our behalf. Thus passion/suffering becomes a term for intense love.
-Pie
ombudsman @ Dec 31st 2005 1:19AM
What was Sony thinking? That making fun of a religion will make me buy a product? Whether or not you believe in a particular faith or religion is irrelevant in this situation. The one fact that you (as the consumer) should think about is whether a company who puts out ads like this has any sort of respect for the people buying the product. This is exploitation (and bordering on desperation) as they are willing to exploit what some people believe just to get a message across.
D0ctOrDirt @ Dec 31st 2005 1:24AM
between this and the zerg-style "graphiti" crappy ads for psp in Phil and elsewhere, Sony's hurting. They're getting beat on by DS and 360 and grasping at straws.
Louis @ Dec 31st 2005 1:40AM
This isn't offensive, but is really stupid. If they really wanted to
offense people, they would of had the FSM's noodly appendage in the
shape of the X, triangle, circle, and square buttons. Now, that would
involk His wrath.
Diametes J @ Dec 31st 2005 2:56PM
Check out some of the other ads CNN labeled as outrageous. With the exception of maybe two, the rest were a bit of a stretch. =P
Andre @ Jan 1st 2006 5:14AM
I lost a lot of respect for Sony when they had that ad. The entire purpose of the ad was to make Christians angry, especially Christians in Rome. Imagine Sony making another ad in Israel that displays starving people people in a concentration camp, and with a caption saying "The Final Solution is the PS3".
H4L0 4-EV3R @ Jan 6th 2006 3:24PM
LOL if anything, they were trying to make Catholics mad, not Christians. It always makes me wonder what people are thinking when they say that Catholocism is "The Church", when in reality, they are a little bit of everything from every culture (look it up in history).