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Did Sony's sexed-up PS Vita ad deserve to be yanked?

9 Comments

Sony have had a bit of heat for a few days after publishing and then promptly pulling a new PlayStation VITA Remote Play promo video.

The YouTube spot features(ed) a seductively fem-British medical professional breathily placating and reassuring an implicitly male patient struggling with uhhh...struggling with himself...a little too much. It’s well beyond innuendo, but then in the reveal it turns out she’s not talking about self-interfering at all (watch video below).

A not exactly shocked, not entirely appalled, but at least a bit perturbed pop-culture editor at The Verge declared in-title that “Sony's pulled PS Vita ad is embarrassing for everyone.” In addition to labeling the ad “sleazy,” the author also complained about the weirdness of an iMac G4 on the woman’s desk (actually we think complaining about that is way weirder than it being there). Okay, but anyway.

So, the big deal being made here, squished into a pretty small nutshell, is that Sony presumably bowed to pressure amid negative feedback and criticism mostly along the lines of: The PS VITA ad is at best sexist and is both insulting to and ignorant of female gamers’ sensitivities. At worst, it’s demeaning, objectifying, and abusively patriarchal and evil and might even hate kittens and stuff.

Okay, have a watch of the thankfully preserved on YouTube PS VITA spot, and let us know: Is Sony a pushover for pulling the ad? Is it all in good fun who cares don't be such a sissy? Does it go too far and is it why the terrorists hate us? Emblematic of the downfall of Western Civilization? Effectively a digital sex crime against women?

Source: AkihabaraNews

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9 Comments
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As soon as I'm finished doing it at my desk, I will comment further on this disgraceful and shameless appeal to the worst instincts of male gamers.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I watched the video and then read the article. My first thought: "There was an iMac G4 on her desk?" Didn't notice.

My dentist has an iMac G4. The design looks perfect for a doctor's office. Maybe Apple will go back to white one day.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The only people who think there is something wrong with this ad are those who have fallen for the premise that there is something wrong with sex and/or masturbation.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The ad is lame. It does not say anything about the product it's selling. The innuendo is silly; seems this is all one big joke. After watching it, the viewer does not know one thing about the PS VITA snd has no good reason to want to find out more. It is simply, low-level.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

appeal to the worst instincts of male gamers.

And those would be what, bantering over voice chat? What is with this bizarre concentration on the behavior of male gamers, of all things? Of all the hobbies you could go after, why gamers? Why not hip-hop? Why not rap? I'm not deflecting, I'm just curious why you social justice advocates love to focus so much on a relatively harmless hobby and willfully ignore the much more 'problematic' ones.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

the only reason it has been removed it's because this ad sucks and does not work at all.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The woman is alluring, but this ad sucks.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

She's not sexy. You need more than "looks" to be attractive.....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Surprise. Blatant sexism. Glad people protested.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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