Monday, October 17, 2011
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Everyone Is Doing It (Banned)
In this video, this man is explaining the new game coming out "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2". There are two different ways that you can go with this video. The first way is the more apparent view of the video, where this old man is making very apparently vulgar comments about some unknown but insinuated topic. This is showing how the mind of many people automatically gravitate to the vulgar side of the discussion. However, at the end of the video, the call of duty sign comes up out of a black background showing that the whole time he was talking about the new game. Why do you think that the creators of the game allow the viewers to insinuate for the majority of the video that the video isn't about the game? Do you think this will help raise sales of the game or deplete the games sales?
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I think the creators of the video targeted the commercial towards college-age students who would enjoy this type of vulgar humor. They used this commercial for humor purposes to get the viewer interested. I do not, however, think this commercial was effective. Many of the people who buy this game are young kids through high schoolers. The game is rated M for mature, and you must be 17 to purchase it. I believe that parents would not find this commercial appropriate, and would be against buying it for their children. When it comes to selling a product, and you have to sell to kids through their parents, commercials cannot be this vulgar that they anger parents.
ReplyDeleteThe term "doing it" is used repeatedly here, and viewers are free to imagine what "it" is. However, the single narrator is an old man with an apparently not-so-clean mouth, and the way he narrates, without clarifying what "it" is, helps the advertisement make a risqué turn. This insinuation attracts the viewer's attention because it seems to be about a topic that is socially improper. While it was funny, I am not surprised that it was banned. Although I agree with Ben that the advertisement was targeted at college-age people, would the same parents who are angered by this video be buying M-rated video games for their younger/high school kids?
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Sarah and Ben said that this advertisement is definitely catching attention no matter the underlying meaning of what the old man said is appropriate or not. Thus, it has already reach one of the major purposes of an ad. However,contrast to what they have both agreed with, I do not think that parental objection will be a major influence to the sales of the video game. Most teenagers nowadays have independent finance, for examples credit cards. Besides, they have various ways to buy a product if they are eager to, such as buying it from a friend or online. It is not necessary for the teens to go to a video game store with their parents' accompany in order to buy an 17+ video game. In response to the question, I believe the ad will raise the sales of the video game because the game is catching audience's attention and warfare type of game is popular among teenagers.
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ReplyDeleteThere is no doubt that the intention of this video is to attract more people to buy this game by making vulgar jokes. However, I agree with my classmates that it is not appropriate to promote the game with this kind of joke and claim that it is enjoyed by everyone, given the fact that this game is not suitable for kids under 17. The senior who tells the jokes makes it more reliable that what he says is such a trend among everyone by making repetitions; however, that idea contradicts with the nature of the game, which greatly hurts its credibility.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ben that the advertisement was targeted toward college-age students. I feel that it could even be targeted towards a younger audience of high school, and quite possibly middle school. Even though the rating is M, and for people 17+, younger people can find a way to obtain and play this game. This humor is very crude, but it grabs your attention. It clearly is intended to be taken in a provocative way. To be honest, the video made me laugh out loud. However, while watching it, I knew what it was really advertising so I understood both ways that it could be taken (sexually and based on the game, Call of Duty). I think that it would boost the sales of the game because the targeted audience appreciates this kind of humor. Many popular movies and tv shows use this kind of humor and it is very common today.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with my classmates on the point that this ad is aimed at an older audience and more specifically at college age give or take a few years. This ad makes it obivious that there is an entirely different theme to it than the game it is trying to advertise. The old man constantly uses the phrase "doing it", which is broad enough that you could interpret it in many ways, but the way in which he uses focuses more on a sexually theme than it does on playing Call of Duty. I can definitely see how this ad would quickly catch people's attention and why some people would want it to be banned despite the fact that the man technically never said anything inappropriate. However, I do think that this ad was a good advertisement idea since the majority of its audience would find the ad funny or be too young to understand it and therefore it wouldn't pose a problem to the vast majority of its viewers. Overall, I think this was a very good ad and it's a shame I never got a chance to see it on TV.
ReplyDeleteI agree with several comments that it is not appropriate for some one who wants to advertise a game by using these vlugar jokes. It may be funny in some kind of way, however only using "doing it" can't arouse my interest to play the game. You know, overstating something would make me feel against it. It may be annoying when I am watching the video. In addition, we actually don't know anything about the game, for there is no detail about the game in the ad. Besides, if someone hasn't the ability to know something behind the vulgar jokes, then this ad means nothing. So, in my humble opinion, this ad didn't take into effects in having more fans on the game.
ReplyDeleteI think the advertisement definitely succeeded in getting peoples attention. If you're sitting with friends watching TV and all of a sudden a commercial comes on that represents something unknown(although assumptions are made) with those kind of statements, its going to peak your interest. The biggest failing of the ad is that it appeals to those who already have interest or knowledge of the game. I play Call of Duty, and the references to hardcore mode, domination, and other things are references that I understood because I had played the game. They are marketing to a group of people who most likely already own the game. I did get a chuckle from finding out all the implications made were about a video game (And they all make sense if you've played Call of Duty)... In another sense, the game itself is about warfare and death, so are the implications of the commercial really too vulgar to compare to that?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Zach that no matter where you are, if you began overhearing this commercial, as a college aged student, you would be instantly interested. Using the old man instead of someone younger, shows that the commercial although seemingly sexual would most likely not be for anything sexual. This would have been put in by the producers as almost a sensor so that insinuations were not taken as far out of context, the old man is just there to catch your attention not draw your attention away from what he's saying. The game does do a good job advertising because it is a commercial that you would continue talking about and show people, which is the whole point of a commercial, get your name and product out there and let the consumers do the rest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the rest of my classmates in that the video is extremely humorous. It is obvious that the creators of the game wanted to promote the game with a memorable commercial and vulgar humor is definitely one way to accomplish that. One thing that interested me was the fact that they used an older spokesperson to promote their brand. One reason the creators may have chosen an elderly person is because they promote a sense of trust. It also might be a way for the creators of the game to make the commercial more light-hearted and permissible. If a young male was the spokesperson, the commercial would have seemed more vulgar. All in all, I think the commercial was successful in their pursuit of making a memorable commercial.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with most of my classmates that in the video is targeted on older people. However, I do not like the way the creator promote the game with a vulgar humor and an old man in a lot of rude word.
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ReplyDeleteThis commercial is definitely catching people's eyes. By repeating his words "doing it" several times without telling the audience what it is, the old man gives the audience space to imagine "it" themselves. In this way, there is kind of a process of interaction, which may help the game be more impressive. And I agree with Leslie that the creator choose the old man to be the narrator to make the commercial more light-hearted which shows that this game is not that vulgar and even the old man can take is then no one can't. The commercial is an impressive one, though I don't like the way which the creator uses to catch people's attention.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with Ben that the creators of the video targeted the commercial towards college-age students. There is no denying the fact that most of the college students and high school students do enjoy this type of vulgar humor. Even though the game rating is M, we should not neglect the fact that the video would be displayed on national television and it might impact the children below 17 in a negative way. I think the video is made in this way to catch the attention of the people, which is a bit controversial way of doing it. The video is undoubtedly interesting and catchy, and I think the creator did a good job overall for the promotion of his product.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the majority of my classmates in the fact that this is aimed toward high school and college students. I think that this approach from the creators was smart because this is the type of humor most people in our generation enjoy. This commercial is catchy and would gain a lot of attention, which would result in higher sales for the game. For myself personally, I think that this was extremely funny and a great approach to sell their product.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of my classmates that this advertisement is definitely catching attention no matter the underlying meaning of what the old man said is appropriate or not. Moreover, I do not think it is a valid point that parent’s opinion will have vast influence on the sales, because most of the teens have jobs and they have enough money to buy these games. So, they need not to have parent’s opinion before buying these kind of games. The main focus of the advertisement was youngsters and college-age people. To be honest, I found this ad interesting. I think this ad will spread like wild fire among the youngsters as it seems to be different and uncommon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gina about the target audience of the video and that it is not that hard for them to obtain the game whether or not their parents approve. It is also a good point that this type of humor has become very prevalent in today's society, I can't say I didn't find it funny. With that said I still don't find the advertisement very effective. Like Zach said, it takes someone who has played this game before to actually understand the references to the game-play. I think the advertisers should focus more on showing new audiences this game-play rather than referencing it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone that this commercial is definitely aimed toward everyone. "Everyone is doing it". The commercial is trying to show that anyone and everyone can play Call of Duty. The repetition of a certain subject "doing it" really grabs everyone's attention because no one really knows what the old man is talking about until the end. It is a very catchy commercial, and since Modern Warfare 2 was one of the best selling games, the commercial must have worked.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this video. I think it commented on modern technology and intrigued different ages of audiences. Obviously this video is a play on words but I find that it attracts audiences more this way. I am not sure how affective this advertisement for call of duty actually is, but it definitely attracts attention to the game. I agree with Zach and Michael when they say if someone hadn't played the game before they wouldn't understand the references to the game as much as a regular player would. I was able to catch on a little bit but I did not completely understand the advertisement.
ReplyDeleteFrom Justin: When evaluating this commercial you have to keep in mind the target audience of the game is. This game's audience is primarily teenage and college aged boys, so playing on sexual innuendo is a clever idea to grab the attention of the target audience. Whether this boosted sales or not, I'm not sure. The ad never shows the product and has no other purpose than grabbing your attention. However, this add couldn't have hurt since "Modern Warfare 2" is one of the best selling videogames of all time.
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