Infinity Ward pulls 'Fight Against Grenade Spam' ad in light of backlash
by Griffin McElroy 
{ Nov 1st 2009 at 5:30PM } 
This wasn't due to the light swearing featured in the video, but rather, because of the name of the PSA's sponsor: Fight Against Grenade Spam, which, when acronym-ized, spells out an offensive slur. Following the inevitable backlash which occurred when the gaming community realized the slur's inclusion, Infinity Ward community manager Robert Bowling responded by Tweeting, "I think the core gag is great, the end is a bit too far from the intent of the joke & can appreciate the concerns. Pulled." True to his word, the video was soon yanked from the developer's YouTube channel.
The complaints from those who viewed the offending ad were two-fold: First, they didn't like that the slur (even in its spelled-out state) was used at all. However, the bigger complaint seemed to be that Infinity Ward was catering to the sensibilities of the foul, hateful underbelly of the online gaming community. What did you think of the video, dear readers? Let us know in the comments section, but please -- keep it civil.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Matt Ferens @ Nov 1st 2009 5:36PM
You'd think someone at IW would have noticed this before it was released and been like "maybe this isn't a great idea".
ClarkyAC @ Nov 1st 2009 5:51PM
maybe they did.. look how much more attention its got
Vcize @ Nov 1st 2009 6:00PM
How did this get upvoted? Of course they noticed it, that's the entire joke.
They're saying grenade spammers are a certain 4 letter word that begins with an F.
Granted, they could have chosen a much more PC word for it, but grenade spamming is one of the banes of CoD4.
Wes @ Nov 1st 2009 6:07PM
Lol, I didn't realize it spelt f.a.g.s at first.
I just read fight against grenade spam and though lol, yeah. My friends tend to do that a lot in Halo or any fps. I'm about to die! I can't aim worth ** **! GRENADE SPAM SO I CAN TAKE HIM WITH MEEEEE. Then I saw the photo and though, that might actually be a pretty funny commercial.
At first, when reading through the article, I thought the backlash was going to be from serious COD players who felt grenade spamming was a legitimate technique/skill and that grenades can be used effectively to pop around corners, etc. I didn't realize the blacklash was going to be from homosexual gamers as I wasn't even really thinking about possible acryonms. I could see Infinity ward missing that, but, think it was possibly on purpose.
Cheesus Crust @ Nov 1st 2009 6:40PM
I mean seriously? Some acronym happened to spell F.A.G.S(what they are) and now they are offended? Should JEWS be offended because this guys name spells JEW
John Ewart Wallace? They don't, cause they aren't retarded. People get too worked up for nothing.
Gun Barrier @ Nov 1st 2009 6:57PM
Actually, I think F.A.G.S. refers to the people that complain about grenade spamming. People who complain about things in games are worse than people who enjoy things in games, after all.
Abi @ Nov 1st 2009 7:02PM
I'm with Cheesus but Gun Barrier could have something there.
SpyderTaco (PSN: Ar4chNova89) @ Nov 1st 2009 7:07PM
You have to give them credit for one thing...
They know their market.
OMGOMG @ Nov 1st 2009 7:12PM
I guess no one has seen Team America?
Film Actors Guild, anyone?
johnnynumber5 @ Nov 1st 2009 7:31PM
Like we said before ... the last Infinity Ward should be yelling about is developers taking marketing into their own hands. If the way they have botched the marketing of MW2 is any indication these guys have pretty much killed most of the good will earned from the critical praise of the first iteration of MW.
WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Nov 1st 2009 7:32PM
Dude Jews can't be offended by the word jew because that's not a derogate term as they call themselves jews.
kevin @ Nov 1st 2009 7:36PM
OMGOMG,
Anyone who has certainly shouldn't want to remember it. Fucking terrible film.
Ryoga Vee @ Nov 1st 2009 7:41PM
The ad in question.
http://ballhype.com/video/fight-against-grenade-spam-psa/
the Sawyer family @ Nov 1st 2009 7:50PM
well, that's me. Damn, I Can't Kill Squat in COD. i'm gonna start my own PSA warning people about our aiming disability in COD. join us in our quest for better aiming. Please, join D.I.C.K.S.
Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 1st 2009 8:15PM
I'm a member of Teabaggers In Total Submission.
Yeah, we get a lot of crap.
Jason @ Nov 1st 2009 8:16PM
@Winterfang - I'm going to assume you are trolling, because I assume you are smarter than that. But I'd at least like to clarify for any idiots that think you are serious.
Words are only derogatory when they are intended to be. It's the difference between, "Jesus Christ my savior." and "Jesus Christ what the **** are you thinking ***hole."
Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 1st 2009 8:27PM
Well, I think the main issue is that the parts don't fit together...but when I pointed that out a week ago Captain Planet said 'Oh, I'll MAKE it fit."
I'm still shuddering from THAT mental image.
Jason @ Nov 1st 2009 8:33PM
@Darth - I think I'm just finally starting to get your humor now. It's a little off and questionable... But it's alright in my book.
Darth Bradwart, Dark Lord of the Sith @ Nov 1st 2009 8:37PM
I'll admit, I'm a odd person. And I prefer the dry humor. Especially if it's British.
Jinsenken @ Nov 1st 2009 8:46PM
@Marc: I kinda just glanced over your comment and saw the phrase "gay whales".
Care to englighten me on wtf that has to do with the ad?
kentuckyfried @ Nov 1st 2009 9:02PM
The "F" isn't commonly used anymore, and if it is, it's used to deride idiots of the online community versus it's original, hateful connotation back in the 80's.
More often, I hear "douchebag" than anything else.
IW went a bit overboard, but I guess they were catering to the baser Xbox 360 community and assumed there would be little to no backlash. woops.
context @ Nov 1st 2009 9:10PM
Let's get offended by cigarettes
ifalldownstairs @ Nov 1st 2009 9:23PM
Wow Marc, shut up. I'm not gay, but you're an asshole.
Jerry @ Nov 1st 2009 9:54PM
Just like you'd think that someone at IW would have realized that the *spoiler* level is in bad taste?
They're really trying to push this game. Nothing inflates your sales like controversy!
Jack Tretton @ Nov 1st 2009 9:57PM
Much ado about nothing.
I'm sure worse invective spills, on an hourly basis, from the mouths of the little dweebs acting up in arms about this.
Brodo @ Nov 2nd 2009 12:41AM
This reminds me of Super Mario Galaxy
"UR MR GAY"
That was classic
http://media.photobucket.com/image/U%20R%20MR%20GAY/nikuluffy/mrgay.jpg
Marc @ Nov 2nd 2009 11:06AM
@jinsenken
really? its like two sentences of reading and you would have got the "gay whales" thing. But its in reference to a common argument people present when you say homosexuality isn't natural.
DeepFriedSushi @ Nov 2nd 2009 5:56AM
they should have just added an extra letter into the acryonm
fRags.
anthonyjh @ Nov 2nd 2009 6:24AM
I really just don't know what I hate more. The whiners or the insensitive jack asses.
Shivvy @ Nov 2nd 2009 12:03PM
@Marc
So let me get this straight, you're basically saying "I'm right and any evidence that may refute me is irrelevant"?
I will side with empirical evidence over your bigotry and ignorance any day, thanks.
Fullmetal Salchemist @ Nov 2nd 2009 1:49PM
@Kentucky
"The "F" isn't commonly used anymore"
It sounds to me like you have never played an online game ever. I also like how you think the "hateful connotation" has gone away. If you're using it to "deride idiots," that's still a "hateful connotation."
What I found most amusing about the article is the implication that this type of trash is restricted to the "the foul, hateful underbelly of the online gaming community," as opposed to the regular belly.
Vcize @ Nov 1st 2009 5:37PM
lol
WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Nov 1st 2009 5:54PM
^This.
Inb4is.
nick @ Nov 1st 2009 5:53PM
honestly, does anybody care? the media always stirs up shit out of nowhere. and joystiq is guilty for reporting on it too. No point in making a bigger deal out of it then there needs to be
Thomas @ Nov 1st 2009 5:42PM
I care. It's along the same lines as using a racist term as an acronym.
Just goes to show you, they're aiming at the lowest common denominator. Beer swilling, blue-collar goatee "dude-bros".
James @ Nov 1st 2009 5:48PM
Exactly John. It's not so much the use of the term but the people they're using it for. It's not some clever or ironic joke designed to reclaim the word or somehow turn it round on those who use it wrongly. It's aimed at the kids of Live who already scream it all over the place.
robert @ Nov 1st 2009 5:52PM
Who the hell is John?
ClarkyAC @ Nov 1st 2009 6:02PM
Where did John come from Sam??
Kyle @ Nov 1st 2009 6:07PM
Esteban?
James @ Nov 1st 2009 6:09PM
Man I feel. When I was typing it I was talking to my friend John and I happened to say "Exactly Thomas" to him while typing "Exactly John".
danthaman15 @ Nov 1st 2009 6:10PM
ಠ_ಠ
Quiggy @ Nov 1st 2009 6:10PM
If this was done intentionally, then I'm fucking outraged. At the same time, if this was an accident, I can't get upset because I didn't notice it until Joystiq pointed it out. The reason I'd be upset though is that the word is deeply offensive to the gay community and is one of the things that they're trying to fight against.
Street Justice @ Nov 1st 2009 6:11PM
I think he got Nick Jonas mixed up with his brother John Jonas
How do i know their names!?!?
Disney shall burn.
cloud858rk @ Nov 1st 2009 6:11PM
I read the comments on the Kotaku article, and they didn't care at all.
"What happened to a good old fashion sense of humor?" You know what else is old fashioned? Hate and racism.
S. Tiger @ Nov 1st 2009 6:30PM
So is it new fashioned to not care? Just brush it off and say "meh?"
Traceur_Ryuk [Founder of The Anti-EMCB(tm) Brigade] (PSN: Ryuk_shinigami) @ Nov 1st 2009 6:32PM
I don't think it's a big deal at all, I agree with Kotaku. First of all, I'm sure every gamer has used or at least heard the word online. Now I'm not gay, but I have plenty of gay friends and one of my siblings is gay and they don't find the word offensive at all. Also, it would be totally different if it was targeting the gay community, but it wasn't. I think that word has become a generic insult just like "douchebag" completely separate from the root meaning.
@Thomas: Racist?
RPYoshi @ Nov 1st 2009 6:34PM
Its just like when people began making a big deal about the scene where innocent civilians are killed in the game... I think IW is just trying to hype their game even more when they really don't need to at all.
http://rpyoshi.mybrute.com
Romo-kun @ Nov 1st 2009 7:06PM
@Quiggy
If you give the word the wrong meaning, whose fault is that? The character in the "PSA" was in no way portrayed as a homosexual; nor was there any hint that those-who-throw-many-grenades are actually, in fact, homosexual.
Quiggy @ Nov 1st 2009 7:56PM
I'm transgendered, actually, and I'd be fucking pissed if it spelled out any slurs against that. Just as I'm fucking pissed if it spells out what it does on purpose, and how I'd be fucking pissed if it was a racial slur (despite the fact that I'm the whitest guy I know). Hatred is wrong, and using these words adds to the hatred. If it was a mistake, I'm sorry for Infinity Ward that they got caught in the middle of this shitstorm. If they did it on purpose, I have no fucking sympathy at all. Would it be ok if the ad was exactly the same but it spelled out the n-word instead?
aristokrat @ Nov 1st 2009 9:14PM
I understand the source of people's anger over this, but it's that same anger that propagates this kind of behavior. Bigotry is just a form of ignorance, and getting mad at someone about that is kind of like getting mad because someone doesn't understand science. When you get all riled up, it draws a line in the sand that makes it easy for the ignorant to say "Well those guys over there don't like me either, so my hatred is justified."
Look at the top black athletes who've had to break barriers in their sports: they didn't get there by fighting back against those who called them stupid names, they just brushed it off and kept on trying to prove that they were in fact not only capable but better. "Fucking outraged" is not a helpful reaction.