More gang news... The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint made against a recent Konami ad for Crime Life: Gang Wars, placed in the Metro newspaper last year. According to the ASA ajudication:
"The ad showed a street scene with five black men lined up; two of the men were holding guns, another was holding a baseball bat and one was holding a hammer. Text above the men stated "RULE THE STREETS OR FALL BY THE WAYSIDE". The complainant objected that the ad was offensive and irresponsible, because it exploited racial stereotypes, glorified violence and encouraged anti-social behaviour."
Konami responded by pointing out that the men were members of rap group D12 and that the group had approved the message. The company also stated that, as Metro is read by young affluent commuters it was unlikely to cause offense. Does this mean that young affluent consumers understand that this is a videogame and that not all young black man parade the streets with offensive weapons? Or is that all young affluent consumers know who D12 are? I'm not sure.
What this does show, however, is that the industry needs to show a little restraint with its adolescent gangland fantasies at times. Interestingly, though, a complaint adjudicated on the same day by ASA - this time against Atari for a Driv3r ad, which showed, 'men leaning out of car windows firing handguns' was not upheld. This one appeared in the Beano and Dandy. What are we to make of it all?
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