A strange French PS2 ad hits the web for July

23 Comments by Blake Snow Jul 10th 2006 10:05AM
Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 2, Video

You have to hand it to Sony. They're not afraid to try anything with their advertising. The above (NSFW) clip was produced by the French ad agency, TBWA-Paris, for the PlayStation France online gallery (Artcade). Though the ad may never see the television light of day, maybe the bald dude at the end is used to pay tribute to Zinedine "Headbutt" Zidane.

"It freaks me out, baby! Yeah..."

[Thanks, Franck; via Artcade]

Tags: Ads, Advertising, Commercials, Marketing, PS2, Sony, Sony ads, SonyAds, TBWA

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

apoc06: Jul 10th 2006; 10:15AM

Does anyone notice that high concept ads very rarely show the actual product they are trying to sell?

Also, does anyone understand the point to the nipple pinching and the ass-slapping? Whoever works at that ad agency needs to consult a shrink. Seriously....

Player1: Jul 10th 2006; 10:17AM

My slim PS2 does none of this. I think the emotion engine is broken.

ill trooper: Jul 10th 2006; 10:19AM

Cool ad. I would never have associated that with Zidane myself however; it simply wouldn't have occurred to me.

Speaking of Ziizou, that was a bummer seeing him go out like that. His amazing career will likely overshadow that brief and selfish loss of temper. In a way, it's sort of awesome to drop that guy that way, but definitely not a good look for an icon like Zidane, in his final game, at such a crucial time.

Intangible 360: Jul 10th 2006; 10:25AM

What the hell was that? Quite possibly the worst ad I've ever seen!

Tim: Jul 10th 2006; 10:26AM

I better not hear any crap against Sony making this. Why? Because they didn't make it, read the article, TBWA-Paris did.

I just wanted to get this out of the way ahead of time before the anti-sony kids try ro make themselves look cool by saying something negative against Sony because of this ad.

Anthony: Jul 10th 2006; 10:43AM

Dude that commerical is sick! Things like that I praise Sony for. A commercial like that is something you/I will remeber over any Microsoft/Nintendo commercial.

They may make some stupid moves but they have the balls to try anything in the gaming industry.

Jonathan Harford: Jul 10th 2006; 10:47AM

I better not hear any praise for Sony making this. Why? Because they didn't make it, read the article, TBWA-Paris did.

Armaan: Jul 10th 2006; 10:55AM

That's a pretty nice ad. It's very daring and creative, and is something you'd expect out of a French agency, especially an agency that's part of TBWA's group. I bet if they entered it into a short film competition, it would win.

Bob422: Jul 10th 2006; 10:56AM

"What the hell was that? Quite possibly the worst ad I've ever seen!"

And how many ads have you seen in your lifetime? Three?

JGE: Jul 10th 2006; 11:05AM

Is that an ad for a new Tim Burton Game???

GTgamer: Jul 10th 2006; 11:56AM

That was actually a pretty interesting ad. I dare say that I liked it...a few parts are a bit perplexing, but at the very least, I was entertained.

Danny: Jul 10th 2006; 11:56AM

It looks positively French. That is to say, slightly effeminate and emasculating.

GTgamer: Jul 10th 2006; 11:58AM

"My slim PS2 does none of this. I think the emotion engine is broken."

If you're upset about it, one could argue the PS2's "emotion engine" is working just fine. haha

Tull: Jul 10th 2006; 1:03PM

hahaha, Nice to see someone elses first reaction to a french commercial is thinking about Ziizou.

However, I think that what Zidane did was perfectly acceptable and if he had been playing for any other country would almost be certainly hailed as a hero for standing up for himself. But being since he was playing for the French national team I'm sure he'll be looked down upon as selfishly taking the cup away from France, which if he hadn't taken a dive in the first 10 minutes would've had no chance at all.

JRM: Jul 10th 2006; 3:01PM

Zinedine "headbutt" Zidane? I thought Zidane looked more like Bonk during that play. :)

Also, hailed as a hero? on that play, I don't think so. a goof maybe. It reminded me of Ariel Ortega in France '98. He headbutted Van Der Sar and was ejected from the game. Moments later, Bergkamp scores and eliminates argentina. The press then blames ortega for being an idiot. zidane is about the same--at least for WC 2006.

PayTheMan: Jul 10th 2006; 4:49PM

I feel Sony is suggesting that all the horrible, violent things people do in some video games is driven by the desires in our head. I mean one could play GTA without killing a single innocent civilian (though this may be unavoidable on some missions) for instance. The Artcade demonstrates an outlet for these tendencies and allows people to express themselves.

Then again, the ad could simply suggest that this guy has a crazy idea for a single art piece.

Capt. Castellanos: Jul 10th 2006; 6:01PM

wow!

that was freaky!

i dunno if i liked it or was just more freaked out!

Tom: Jul 10th 2006; 6:27PM

I don't care! Any commercial with Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kruger is awesome in my book!

CLShortFuse: Jul 10th 2006; 6:55PM

My question is:

Why was the head of alien from Mars Attack in the bottom left of the shelves. Makes me think it's fake. (Mars Attack is WB, not Sony Pictures)

CLShortFuse: Jul 10th 2006; 6:57PM

Mars Attack never even has a PS2 game, so why would they give free "advertisement" to a competing movie company?

ottomobiehl: Jul 10th 2006; 8:19PM

"Why was the head of alien from Mars Attack in the bottom left of the shelves. Makes me think it's fake. (Mars Attack is WB, not Sony Pictures)"

Mars Attacks was a series of collector cards released by Topps in 1962; long before Burton got his grubby hands on it. This may be what they were aiming at.

"Mars Attack never even has a PS2 game...."

There are a lot of elements in that commercial that never had a PS2 game; I think that's the point. The commercial seems to be aiming at showing things that are in the deepest and darkest recesses of your mind. Not showing things which were in video games.

Loved the commercial though.

Eric: Jul 11th 2006; 12:16AM

THat is by far the single worst ad I've EVER seen.

Sidebuster: Jul 11th 2006; 9:25AM

Yep... That pretty much sums up what goes on in my head too but with more nipple pinching and ass slapping. The only reason I would have Freddy or Jason in my head would be after I watched one of their movies at night. The one horror character that gets stuck in my head is the dead japanese girl from The Grudge.

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