After the - let's face it - justified furore last week over the "racist" PSP ad, Sony have withdrawn the campaign. Speaking to gamesindustry.biz Sony admitted that the ad may have caused offence. "May"?
"Whilst the images used in the campaign were intended solely to highlight the contrast between the different colours available for the PSP, we recognise that the subject matter of one specific image may have caused concern in some countries not directly affected by the advertising. As a result, we have now withdrawn the campaign. We further recognise that people have a wide variety of perceptions about such imagery and we wish to apologise to those who perceived the advert differently to that intended. In future, we will apply greater sensitivity in our selection of campaign imagery, and will take due account of the increasingly global reach of such local adverts, and their potential impact in other countries."
Clearly an attempt to deflect some attention from the DS Lite launch the ad campaign certainly did the job. When DS Lite 2 (or whatever) launches in about 3 weeks (knowing Nintendo's annoyingly hasty handheld redesign strategy) it will be interesting to see what ads Sony reply with. After race, what's left to shock with? Religion? Personally I'd prefer a half decent new PSP game.
