The New Sony PSP Ad
Seen the latest headline at The Grauniad? “Sony ad casues white riot” Hehehe; at least I make spelling errors for free for crimney’s sake!*
anyhow, here’s the ad:
new billboard advert for Sony’s white PSP has caused consternation across the US videogaming community. The ad shows a white model dressed entirely in white threateningly grasping the face of a black model. Next to them are the words, “PlayStation Portable. White is coming”.
It seems to me pretty stupidly racist, frankly, and I’m certainly not one who is keen to toss that term around lightly. I think that the latex gloves that the White Beast is wearing so she doesn’t even come in contact with the black girl/boy (I honestly can’t tell) is an especially nice touch, as is the way the necktie thingy forms a Madonna-esque cross with WB’s bra support. Yech.
Of course, since this is the Grauniad they have to end with a paragraph like this:
Importantly perhaps, the ads are for the European release of the white PSP and are appearing on billboards in Amsterdam rather than in the US where racial tension remains a fraught issue.
Ah yes, those cultured, prejudice-free Europeans.
Where they still have ad agencies that would produce this sort of crap.
*And I correct ’em too: “criminey’s” d’oh!
Media | Mr. Bingley | 
July 6, 2006 8:41 pm
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Just so you know, there are at least 2 other billboards in the set. In one, the black model is crouching above a cowering white model, and the other has the two facing off, hands raised.
You might also note that the gloves have the fingers cut off, similar to the gloves seen in fighting games. The ad labeled pic one makes clear that the white model’s gloves are fingerless.
Here are the other two ads: http://pspupdates.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/57882/pic-3.jpg
http://pspupdates.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/57882/pic-1.jpg
Ah, thanks for those links, Eric! I can see that the fingers are cut off, but they still look like see-through latex gloves, no?
Not an appealing ad, at all.
And in the interest of full disclosure I own a PSP.
Sony goes for the bigot market
Jon sent a link to this post which takes aim at Sony’s latest race-baiting ad: It seems to me pretty stupidly racist, frankly, and I’m certainly not one who is keen to toss that term around lightly. I think that…
Sony goes for the bigot market
Jon sent a link to this post which takes aim at Sony’s latest race-baiting ad: It seems to me pretty stupidly racist, frankly, and I’m certainly not one who is keen to toss that term around lightly. I think that…
billboards in Amsterdam rather than in the US where racial tension remains a fraught issue.
Yes, where the previous and current Secretaries of State are African-American.
Just like all the European foreign ministers of African descent, including Holland’s Bernard Bot (http://www.minbuza.nl/default.asp?CMS_ITEM=F16684537210448DA7A6BB37CB2DB17AX1X49357X58) and the UK’s Margaret Beckett (http://www.fco.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1145893702017).
Bernie “All Flavor” Bots is my favorite!
SoCal, how many foreign ministers in europe have been of non-white extraction?
i’m thinking…none?
Oh, I agree, Mr. Bingley, that the ads are visually unappealing. But I think they are the result of culture shock more than anything else. Sony specifically said they wanted a color clash based ad campaign, ie Black vs White. I think the whole trilogy is supposed to be sort of yin-yang kinda thing. In one scene they are in balance, in one white is ascendant, and in the third black triumphs. I believe that the Japanese people at Sony did not envision the hulla-baloo that a white clad Nordic model wrestling a Matrixed out African girl would cause. They just saw a cool campaign to combine the colors of their PSPs, and fighting moves like those from the games off the systems.
I’d be curious to see if the ads were developed in-house by Sony in Japan or if they used a European ad agency.
I don’t understand what makes this racist. You have a black & white woman wrestling. The ads don’t say one is better than the other. It doesn’t play to any stereotypes. Yes, it’s racial, in that it is using the appearance of the models to highlight the different colors the PSP comes in (Black & White), but is that wrong? Both are attractive.
Sony goes for the bigot market
Jon sent a link to this post which takes aim at Sony’s latest race-baiting ad: It seems to me pretty stupidly racist, frankly, and I’m certainly not one who is keen to toss that term around lightly. I think that…