THQ In Hot Water Over Homefront Marketing
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On that subject, it's unlikely any intelligent people will be against the game because they're left-wing. I'm as liberal as they come, and I have no problem with Homefront, other than the fact that it looks dull. San Francisco probably seemed like a good idea because it's a relatively well-off city and there'd be more potential customers. Political persuasion doesn't have much to do with the kind of games you like.Therumancer said:JDKJ said:Just in case you're not being entirely facetious, you should be aware that the Summer of Love ended more than 40 years ago and San Francisco is no longer the communist hot-bed it was once thought to be. In fact, an influx of well-educated techie-types and regentrification have now placed it beyond the means of most Little Red Book-carrying Maoists. They all moved out and up to Humbolt County many years ago (where they're all now growing super-potent pot and making money hand over fist). The "hippies" you may see in Haight-Ashbury aren't really hippies. They're all actors paid by the local merchants to ensure a steady stream of gawking tourist willing to buy bootleg Grateful Dead T-shirts. Just so you know.Therumancer said:Well, it seems to me that San Francisco was probably not the best place to do the marketing for a war game, that by it's nature espouses a world view contrary to the political idealogy famously practiced in that region and celebrated in song.
The complaint on the balloons is ridiculous of course, and seems to be an after-the-fact attempt to do something about this more than anything, because I very much doubt this is the first promotional event/celebration in the city to do something like this, what's more the laws involved are likely pretty obscure if the marketing department working with THQ didn't know about them. Typically events like this are done by working with locals who help obtain the venues and promote locally, so it's not likely that THQ just decided to wing this whole thing and upset a bunch of people by being careless.
Simply put they walked into one of the biggest left wing strongholds on the left coast, and decided to promote a "realistic" war game involving real factions. It shouldn't be shocking that given the number of San Fran residents who might literally want to put flowers in the hair of Kim Jong and his son, that something went wrong here.
While I was trying to be funny with the flowers and mentioning the song, I will say that I didn't actually say "communist" or even "hippies" I said left wing. The left wing has changed in how it presents itself. "The Left Coast" is referred to that way for a reason, the point here being that it's not an ideal area for this kind of thing. Most of the big cities down there aren't.... HOWEVER there are exceptions to every generality when dealing with populations that big. San Fran doubtlessly has some very conservative areas like any big city.
OT: X amount of money says THQ paid people to complain about the balloons. Also, it really does seem like a terrible publicity stunt. Sure, more people know about the game, but are more people really going to buy it?
You don't understand. I live in SF. How does the city look? What type of landmass is San Francisco? It is a peninsula. IT IS SURROUNDED BY WATER ON THREE SIDES!secretsofgames said:
Where they released the balloons, were just BLOCKS [http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=Yerba+Buena+gardens&fb=1&gl=us&hq=Yerba+Buena+gardens&hnear=San+Francisco,+CA&cid=0,0,10675439019680669784&ei=GY1wTZ-fA4SusAOznvS2Cw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=image&resnum=2&ved=0CCkQnwIwAQ] away from the ocean. San Francisco is always windy. Where would they expect balloons to end up beside the water? This was sheer stupidity. Maybe you're right, they may have intended for the coupons to end up in gamer hands. It was just they were targeting gamers who lived on boats and are divers.
So is paper, yet how long have those takeout leaflets stuck in the chainlink fence on your street been around? One man throwing out a tissue paper out of his car can be fined for littering even though it's "biodegradable." As part of this stunt THQ released TEN THOUSAND BALLOONS!
This is more like someone scattering a library of books on the road.
Oh come on. It's not that bad.
I'm surprised that, in all this rage about marketing, nobody's mentioned that time a few years ago when Sony brought a freshly decapitated goat with them to market God of War.
I'm surprised that, in all this rage about marketing, nobody's mentioned that time a few years ago when Sony brought a freshly decapitated goat with them to market God of War.
I think every single person in this thread (or just the three posts I read) are completely missing the biggest point of the article. Colifornia has a law that specifically states balloOns can't be put in it's water, if I may reiterate SPECIFICALLY BALLOONS.
What a load of bollocks. We don't have anything like this to market games in England, and i'm sure other countries don't. Just seems American marketing is all about "look at us, look how bat-shit insane we are, buy our games". Seriously, stop trying to be innovative for the sake of it in marketing your games. (Looking at you EA)
To be fair, when this happened, a lot of people were proclaiming it's not that bad. Remember that time when _____ did ____?MurderousToaster said:
Actually, this analogy sucks, here's a better one.Nouw said:
You see a huge container with a radioactive symbol on it. You have a hammer in your hands. And you essentially play whack-a-mole with the nuke and don't know what kind of consequences will ensue. You explode.
What the fuck kind of marketing is that? Balloons? Are you serious? What the fuck do balloons have to do with anything?! That's not even marketing. What the hell is wrong with people's brains?!
Read the article:secretsofgames said:
That's not a hippie. That's a marine biologist. In case you can't tell, the difference is the completed college degree, the completed hygiene, better weed, and having a valid point about TIME being the actual issue.The Article said:
Not to be rude, but if you're so sure this is hippie BS, why not put one of these balloons over your own head and see if it "degrades" fast enough for you to keep breathing. Not that I want you to. Just, think about it. In your mind.
onoez, attack of teh Balloons!
Really, out of all things to pick on, the "environmental defenders" as I call them had to go for a couple of ballons?
Really, out of all things to pick on, the "environmental defenders" as I call them had to go for a couple of ballons?
You sir, deserve a medal.Kalezian said:
OT: I always thought you were supposed to ask permission because it can interfere with air traffic instead of he whole pollution thing.
[sub]Or maybe that is just the UK with our crowded air space...[/sub]
I'm not sure where the OP got that from, but the law doesn't mention balloons specifically. It only states that:raxiv said:
"5652. (a) It is unlawful to deposit, permit to pass into, or place where it can pass into the waters of the state, or to abandon, dispose of, or throw away, within 150 feet of the high water mark of the waters of the state, any cans, bottles, garbage, motor vehicle or parts thereof, rubbish, litter, refuse, waste, debris, or the viscera or carcass of any dead mammal, or the carcass of any dead bird."
Having read the law, I'm not even sure that the balloons in this case would be covered by the law. There's an argument to be made that they aren't garbage, rubbish, litter, refuse, waste, or debris. Because the law specifically list the types of materials that cannot legally end up in the waters of the state, there's a good argument that because balloons are not specifically included, they don't qualify.