Is this even real?!

[gubi-gubi]

Has anyone seen this? I can't believe it's even REAL! What went through Sony's head when coming up with this lol...

http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/717/717138p1.html

[Puppet Master]

Wow that is a pretty terrible advertising decision. Now to wait for one that's worse.

[Elcoholic]

Not you guys too. Its not racist at all. There are also pictures with the black girl on top in an agressive stance. They meant to show one will not be dominated over the other, kinda anti racist even. And its only being shown in my country and i think Belgium.

I like it. I really don't see the problem. Sony always has weird ads that have very little to do with gaming. They do stick and its free publicity all over the net with these pics. Any publicity is good publicity and this one sure hit the nail on the head.

What if they made a gold psp and painted the white girl gold? Then it would be no problem at all. People finding these pics racist need to take a look at themselfs.

I also thought the Jesus one was pure genious a while back.

[Cidien]

Well it is a pure white chick pretty much holding a black guys neck with an "oh shit" look on his face. It does look a bit racist. :p Oh well, looks kinda cool. They probably coulda came up with something 10x better if they tried at all.

[Blight]

I thought the same thing when I first saw that. Before I saw the pic, I was like wtf, someone is over-reacting, then I saw it, and was like, maybe not. Thing is, it isn't racist at all, and here is why.

http://www.armchairempire.com/News/?p=33

Go there and you'll see that this was a series of adds. One with each color dominating and one stand off. Racy? Yes. Racist? Not really. I mean, sure, when it comes down to it, to different colored people are squaring off and struggling against one another. But it is just a personification of the PSP's, and the different colored people are a very real representation of that. At least that is a very innocent point of view. Seriously, this wasn't meant to be offensive, and I can see, on paper in a conference room, the marketing strategy behind this. I mean, it clearly gets the point across, it had instant power, and it has started all hell of conversation. But by itself, yeah, it looks bad as hell. Once all the ducks are in a row and you can see where they were going with it, it isn't bad. Is it a bad decision? That would depend on Sony's goal, and how many people are going to be pissed off over it.

[gubi-gubi]

I doubt they MEANT to be racist but why risk offending people? Why did the people have to be white and black people? Why couldn't the black person be painted white? Its using race not the idea of too colours which aren't even the actual colour of the races involved.

[Puppet Master]

Not you guys too. Its not racist at all. There are also pictures with the black girl on top in an agressive stance. They meant to show one will not be dominated over the other, kinda anti racist even. And its only being shown in my country and i think Belgium.

I like it. I really don't see the problem. Sony always has weird ads that have very little to do with gaming. They do stick and its free publicity all over the net with these pics. Any publicity is good publicity and this one sure hit the nail on the head.

What if they made a gold psp and painted the white girl gold? Then it would be no problem at all. People finding these pics racist need to take a look at themselfs.

I also thought the Jesus one was pure genious a while back.

I never said I thought it was racist it's just a fucking lame advertising campaign. Than again I guess it's not all that different than any other.

[Blight]

I doubt they MEANT to be racist but why risk offending people? Why did the people have to be white and black people? Why couldn't the black person be painted white? Its using race not the idea of too colours which aren't even the actual colour of the races involved.

Why not risk it? I think the biggest problem with race relations today is few people feel comfortable talking about the issue at all. Political correctness is a disease that is eroding the ability to discuss many things, and race has been eliminated completely. Any statement they made was not racist. If anything, in underlines a very real struggle that still goes on today, but people are too afraid to confront. I think until people get over the fact that talking about race isn't taboo, stuff like this will be viewed as racist by people simply not wanting to offend. Bottom line is this isn't offensive to people comfortable with race issues, and that seems to be very few people.

I think the fact that everyone is so damn uncomfortable with this ad underlines the bigger problem here. That problem is that it isn't racist to call anything like it is. A duck is a duck and a house is a house and a car is a car, and an Asian is an Asian, a Native American is a Native American, and a billboard ad with a series of black and white people struggling while representing a product is still a fucking ad with a series of black and white people struggling while representing a product. If people become afraid to call something what it is just because it involves race, then it just proves there is something that needs to be changed in society.

It?s like Elcoholic says if they were colors not representing a real race, then no one would have looked twice at it. But since it does, old ladies are fainting and Politian?s are bitching and around the world people?s underwear is crawling up their ass. People need to talk about this stuff, and not fear being labeled a racist. That is a barrier the WHOLE WORLD needs to get past. This being as issue just makes it obvious that there is a problem of barriers. People don't think they should be crossed, but if there are barriers, we really haven't made any progress have we?

While the ad is still ugly as hell with what appears to be a poodle on one persons head, it think it was a very bold decision by Sony, and one of the best they have made in some time. Way be heralds of truly furthering race relations, even if most people are too ignorant and afraid to see the truth in it.

[Psygnius]

Yeah, if you see the entire series of pictures for it, like the one Blight posted, it definately doesn't look racist. If you just look at that one image, then yes it does. Overall, I think the NACCP is overreacting.

Maybe, Sony should've planned on coming out with a pink PSP at the same time with the white one, then instead of seeing a White VS Black ad, all of them would be like White VS Black VS Pink. Then there'd be no problem at all. The connotations of racism wouldn't really be there....

Well... then again.... someone out there would probably think that white chick is beating up the black chick and the lesbian chick. OMG, discrimination!

[Elcoholic]

Great post Blight. And very much true in european society aswell. People need to talk about these things, not sweep them under the carpet.

[gubi-gubi]

A duck is a duck and a house is a house and a car is a car, and an Asian is an Asian, a Native American is a Native American, and a billboard ad with a series of black and white people struggling while representing a product is still a fucking ad with a series of black and white people struggling while representing a product. If people become afraid to call something what it is just because it involves race, then it just proves there is something that needs to be changed in society.

Yes a duck is a duck but a white PSP is not a white person and a black PSP is not a black person. Linking the two is not some great representation of race relations its pretty damn offensive and is cheapening how far we have come in race relations.

It?s like Elcoholic says if they were colors not representing a real race, then no one would have looked twice at it. But since it does, old ladies are fainting and Politian?s are bitching and around the world people?s underwear is crawling up their ass. People need to talk about this stuff, and not fear being labeled a racist. That is a barrier the WHOLE WORLD needs to get past. This being as issue just makes it obvious that there is a problem of barriers. People don't think they should be crossed, but if there are barriers, we really haven't made any progress have we?

Yeh if they were other colours they wouldn't of done it. It wouldn't work because the whole premise is about race not the colours involved and not even the product itself which is crap advertising anyway.

While the ad is still ugly as hell with what appears to be a poodle on one persons head, it think it was a very bold decision by Sony, and one of the best they have made in some time. Way be heralds of truly furthering race relations, even if most people are too ignorant and afraid to see the truth in it.

Are you joking? What the hell favours do you think Sony are going to do with this advert? How the hell can this favour race relations by making one of the biggest seperations of white and black I have seen in a long time.

Great post Blight. And very much true in european society aswell. People need to talk about these things, not sweep them under the carpet.

Same goes to that comment to. Who does Sony think it is to be trying to represent race relations? How is offending people on a billboard adressing the topic? It doesn't adress anything in anyway. Tell me how you think this is a positive thing?

[geo85]

I agree with gubi on this, the ads are lame, and whether they meant to be racist or not anyone with eyes and an ounce of common sense could see that this would offend people, not everyone is going to see all the ads.

So if I made an add for jeans by showing a suni beating a shiite for them is that going to bring the two groups closer together, no get real, sony knew what it was doing this is all publicity.

[gubi-gubi]

So if I made an add for jeans by showing a suni beating a shiite for them is that going to bring the two groups closer together, no get real, sony knew what it was doing this is all publicity.

Ha exactly! Even the other ads make an issue of race even if the 'black' is dominating the white or even if they are playing nicely. Anyway I guess Sony has won with all the publicity surrounding this. They have got what they wanted.

[Puppet Master]

People take things too damn seriously...

[evilomar]

If those chicks were topless, I might have considered buying a shitty-ass PSP!