Infinity Ward pulls 'Fight Against Grenade Spam' ad in light of backlash

by Griffin McElroy on Nov 1st 2009 5:30PM

After having their game leaked to the planet's pirating populace and catching flak for some of the controversial secrets revealed therein, one could say that the folks at Infinity Ward are having a fairly rough week. However, they brought their latest batch of hardships upon themselves. A recent viral video for Modern Warfare 2, which featured Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels delivering a PSA (video NSFW) about overzealous grenade use, drew the ire of many of its viewers.

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.

Source

Tags: call-of-duty, call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2, controversy, fps, infinity-ward, Microsoft, modern-warfare, modern-warfare-2, robert-bowling, viral-video, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (344)

Don't kal your neezhnies.

Well you're obviously not banned, so that's not it. Joystiq does have an automatic filter though, which blocks out comments that use certain words. I know the N word is blocked, and I'm sure f.a.g is too. So if you typed a comment with that in it then that explains why you were getting that.

If we all collectively made popular the use of ordinary words in place of offensive ones, eventually all words would be banned.

"Hey bro, that aerosol was foliant. I'm SO going to print that bucket!"

In the future, yes, this phrase would offend EVERONE.

People dont have a sense of humor.

Lmao classic!

any publicity is good publicity. I hail their marketing peeps.

You know what a F.ag really is It's an Homonym

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8gHtm6cXV4

Also, "South Harmon Institute of Technology" spells a profanity. Didn't stop it from being used (repeatedly) during Comedy Central broadcasts of "Accepted".

Calm the eff down. Seriously.

I searched the comments until I found yours. Thank you. I will stop now.

Who isn't calm?

People are posting that they think it's an immature and unprofessional move, but they are hardly leaping out on the streets with pitchforks....

they should have just changed it to Fight Against Hand Grenade spam or even better Fight Against Frag Grenade Spam I'm pretty sure as a whole the slur was unintended but I'm guessing at a few pople at If had to have noticed and decided to keep their mouth/s shut

So Potato, what's your point? M-rated games are cool for kids? What does that have to with the topic at hand? If a 14 year old can handle a violent game, then so be it.

That marketing video is clever. It uses a commonly used phrase to satire a gameplay style that's super annoying. Slurs can be used for comedic affect. What if the marketing team that made the video was from a gay marketing company? Doesn't matter. You could argue the "irresponsible" angle all day and night with any number of games / advertising. The fact is, this has created buzz for the game and has us talking about it. It did it's job. That's why it's clever.

I think that people are failing to aknowledge the fact that this fits well with the gritty realism of the game. The ad showed both homophobia and misogyny, yes, but are't these both fairly common amongst the armed forces? Now I haven't served, so I can't say from first hand experience, but just because a game displays such values doesn't mean they support them. The entire game is about killing people, for christ's sake, they aren't trying to promote morals here. Don't get me wrong, I disagree with the level of queer-bashing in society, I just think that this shouldn't be seen as promotion of the use of such offesive terms and thoughts.

Not offended by the vid, Though I thought IW was above base humor. I guess the 50 Cent cameo should've been the first sign that this was not the case.

When I watched the video, I personally didn't pick up on the acronym.

I thought the video itself was funny.

For those who posit that the acronym is just a word, and therefore inconsequential, how about this?
Some words are just words and some are weapons. The word in question became popular for EXACTLY the same reason the n-word did, same as words that reduce women to anatomical details, and all of the other available generalized slurs did. These words exist to diminish the perceived humanity of those to whom they refer, thereby entitling their users to justify victimizing the group. After all, they're not us, not people, just f----, n------, c----.
This belittling justifies everything from name-calling to murder.
If you use words like that because you haven't thought about it, stop using them. If you have thought about it, and still use them, then you ARE the kind of person who would force a woman to the back of a bus because of the color of her skin, or worse. Seriously.

hahaha i havent seen the vid and i dnt mind cursing so wats the problem???? thers probably more cursing in the game >.>

and lol at F.A.G.S

People are overly sensitive these days.

Why just last month there was this ad about getting out and doing exercise being healthy, and it happened to use an image of a kid with a PS2 controller as an example of an unhealthy activity.

You won't believe how all those video gamers bitched and moaned about it... it was ridiculous. Stupid politically correct video gamers... everyone should just grow a thicker skin and stop complaining about things they don't like.

Its nuts how many people get offended over this *maybe on purpose F.A.G.S. title. Was it good taste, prob not. Was it PC... lol hell no but on the same note people are so thin skinned anymore. If you want to get offended that's fine and that is your choice so don't buy or play the game. Personally I'm not going to read into it.

This video is funny, it's a JOKE you need to realize this. People there's more things to worry about than a video game joke!

does this mean the fragX3 perk isn't in MW2?? I hated playing in "Shipment" against a team where everyone had that perk....it was almost unplayable

Robert Bowling sounds like a typical PR flunky with no soul. I thought he was better than that. Own up to a horrible lapse in judgement and move on.

It's incredible that something as dumb as this can get green-lighted at a major corporation. Infinity Ward definitely dropped a few notches in my estimation.

nothing more pointlessly hurtful than satirizing people who are pointlessly hurtful.

I thought it was hilarious.

The sad thing is that most of the complainers are going to buy this game anyway, I really hope they don't so I can enjoy the multiplayer with people who really want to play intead of whining all day long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-otAJrtY-w

Watch it, explains my point of view pretty nicely.

Hail Louis CK ;]

Oh sure it's alright to make a game that simulates the killing of other human beings.

But don't dare make a phrase where someone looking to be offended by something can be offended by it's acronym. Society is so funny!

Both penalties offset each other and the ball will be placed on the forty-five yard line.

Oh no, another victory for the Funnystuff Abolishment Group.

*sigh* They just had to do this ad when Obama just passed that god-awful hate crime bill. I didn't notice the acronym until my girlfriend pointed it out to me...oh well who cares I'm still buying the game.

am i bad if i didnt notice or care. its offensive if u take it out of context. u hAv to think how obscure it was. financed by fight against grenade spam? its not like FU F.A.G.S so u gotta look at it and ask ur self. should i be offended

Meh, I would have never have noticed it if it wasn't pointed out.

hahah nice! this shouldnt be a problem. the term has been so used that it no longer means just homosexual, i throw the word around all the time but have never used it about an actual homosexual person. words meanings change over time, are we forgetting that the term 'punk' used to mean exactly the same thing, but now has next to no homosexual connotations?

I actually didn't know that about "punk".

The internet tells me this use began in the 1500s, and by the 1920's it already lost its homosexual connotations. I get your point but this happened long before mass media allowed a word to spread like wildfire.

I think we can agree that as a society we are definitely not there yet with the word "f a g".

Maybe if they went with the acronym D.O.U.C.H.E.B.A.G.S. they'd get the same message across without being offensive...

Snake get a grip it was a throw away joke..no need to get your panties in a bunch over it

You know what I find funny?...

As a black guy, everytime I hear someone...er...NOT of color (lol) use the "n" word, and I get a little offended, I'm bombarded with rebuttals such as "Man, it's the NEW MILLENIUM, your still on about that?" or "It's just a word, dude, chill"...

I know a LOT of gay people, tho...and I have never met a single one who found that "f" word offensive...never...

i saw this on modernwarfare247 and never even saw that it spelled that out... didnt really cross my mind. but i do not like that word at all. umm not that they said it but its just a bad word even in the that situation. all tho it was pretty funny. cuz i know what they ment and i do it all the time in cod4. RANDOM NADE!

Being gay, I read this and at first was like "WTF?", then I was like, "oh I see what you did you there." Not really offended, but I know people who would be and then be all like "whatever..." Don't think anyone is gonna /wrist about this. It's actually getting funnier by the minute.

So many people are commenting that the word is disconnected from its meaning, but I don't think that's the case at all. When kids (and adults too, I suppose) use the word in a derogatory way, it's very much the same as them calling eachother gay--which happens all the time online. Either way, they're attributing a lack of gaming skill with homosexuality, implying that being homosexual makes one inferior (and by extension, that being heterosexual makes one superior). It's hate speech, plain and simple.

So what should they do, get better at video games? The point is that hundreds of thousands of gamers out there use that word as an insult against those who suck at games, and that word means, in common parlanace, someone who is homosexual. They're saying if you're gay, you are inferior. It's hate speech. How should they react?

Come on IW Happens to have the Acronym F.A.G.S and everyone gets offended how many of you people really know about the important stuff like the new heath care bill or all of the problems we already have in our country like job loss and hunger. Why don't the people who have time to attack IW put some more time into solving real problems like those this Vid is for gamers anyway and every gamer i know or my friends know has not been offended by this. Come on people IW would not put this out there if they new they would loose fans and buyers gamers know what they mean when they herd the acronym. So there is no need to make a problem where one dosent exist.

Previous 50 Comments

Infinity Ward pulls 'Fight Against Grenade Spam' ad in light of backlash

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