UK PSP advertisements ruled as inoffensive

by Ross Miller { Jun 21st 2006 at 2:55PM }

It all started with a few tongue-in-cheek posters Sony put up to promote the PSP -- simple posters, with phrases such as "Your girlfriend's white bits here" and "Take a running leap." Sony voluntarily took down the latter poster, which was found near subway rails, but the prickly PSP posters prompted complaints from the population (say that three times fast).

The Advertising Standards Authority, who investigated the ad campaign after receiving 45 complains, has ruled that the posters were inoffensive and irreverent ways to promote the PSP's multimedia capabilities. The ASA has dismissed all the complaints.

You can view the ASA's verdict by clicking on the adjacent image.

[via GamesIndustry.biz]

Tags: Ads, Advertising, Marketing, Sony, Sony ads, SonyAds

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Sabre @ Jun 21st 2006 3:00PM

They might not have been offensive but putting the "Take a running leap" ad right next to subway tracks wasn't the smartest thing to do especially when according to the original story (I think), the city was trying to cut down on people jumping on the tracks.

the guy with an idea @ Jun 21st 2006 3:07PM

"Your Girlfriends White bits here"

Huh? I dont get it. What are white bits?

Chris @ Jun 21st 2006 3:14PM

Sabre. The person who would take a running leap because they read it on a poster probably should did it anyway.

It's a joke people, and as crap as the ads are they worked because you don't need any other ads being talked about.

PaleGringo @ Jun 21st 2006 3:16PM

Ooh... try this one, RM:

"prickly PSP posters prompted population protests"

Quality.

Dawg605 @ Jun 21st 2006 3:16PM

"Your Girlfriends White bits here"

Huh? I dont get it. What are white bits?"

I don't get it either.

GlitchCog @ Jun 21st 2006 3:24PM

the guy with an idea,

Your girlfriend's white bits are supposed to be her untanned skin. So I guess it'd be like an American ad for a PSP saying you could use it to view your girlfriend's white spots past her tan lines. Not especially racy, really.

From the link:

They said ad (b)'s headline "YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S WHITE BITS HERE" was intended to highlight, in a tongue-in-cheek way, the fact that it was possible to view personal photos on a PSP. They said it referred to a scenario familiar to the ads' target audience: girlfriends complaining that their holiday snaps showed them in a bikini before they got a tan, thereby displaying their "white bits". They said it was written colloquially to reflect how its audience might speak about the scenario.

Sabre @ Jun 21st 2006 3:26PM

It's still bad placement for Sony (and the PR firm they hired) to put them there. If you were a cop in a bad neighborhood trying to clean up the drugs in the city, would you want some big corporation putting up a billboard that says "Do drugs! They're cool!" ?

It's common sense man.

pn18 @ Jun 21st 2006 3:31PM

inoffensive =/= defensive?

J B Cougar @ Jun 21st 2006 3:34PM

Great, so now that there's nothing left to hold it back, the PSP can start selling like hotcakes!

Jay @ Jun 21st 2006 3:38PM

Those adverts are just cheap rip offs from Selfridges instore ads. They look exactly the same, same colour same typeface, same "in your face" style. the one that sticks in my head the most is the "Buy me, I'll make you better" one. though this may just be Manchesters city centre Selfridges only.

They can't even do an ad campaign without copying.

Jedediah Johnson @ Jun 21st 2006 4:20PM

Another case of bad publicity being simply bad publicity. Just because someone talks about your ad doesn't mean its doing its job. A good ad will leave positive impressions that could equal to sales. A controversial ad or just a plan dumb ad wont achieve that. If any PSPs sold from sorry posters like this then I imagine it could have done 3x-5x better with a actual intelligent massage.

lloyd @ Jun 21st 2006 4:27PM

"10. Those adverts are just cheap rip offs from Selfridges instore ads. They look exactly the same, same colour same typeface, same "in your face" style. the one that sticks in my head the most is the "Buy me, I'll make you better" one. though this may just be Manchesters city centre Selfridges only.

They can't even do an ad campaign without copying."

both are very similar to an ABC advertising campaign in the mid 90's as well as many other print ad campaigns i've seen over the years. i doubt it's a ripoff but it is a poor advertisement.

Amrcanpoet @ Jun 21st 2006 5:09PM

A good example of not ALL press is good press, is actually the PSP ads here in the states. Those talking squirrels really turned me off to the PSP. I talked with many people about them (oh, everyone's talking about the PSP!), and how offensive, racist, and stereotypical they were. Based on that, and maybe the lack of a single game worth dropping $200 on the PSP for, I decided to pass. Okay, maybe it was more the game part, and not the ads; but, they certainly didn't help!

GTG @ Jun 21st 2006 6:11PM

I guess it's just me, but I thought the flying leap posters were pretty funny. No sane individual would actually jump, but the idea of "going out with style/fun" is amusing. I don't think there's enough foam padding in the world to start limiting everything to the lowest common denominator...plus, humor would entirely disappear.