Sony contemplating lawsuit over Change4Life ad
- Posted March 9th, 2009 at 15:34 EDT by
- 83 Comments
We're going to start this article off with the picture that sparked this situation.
If you haven't figured it out, the child is playing a video game with a controller similar to those of Sony's PlayStation brand. Why is this such an issue? The company who was in charge of the ad, The Gate, did not seek permission from the gaming giant in order to utilize the obvious likeness of its controller.
The Change4Life ad campaign has been started by the British government in order to bring attention to the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle. The image, which depicts a young child playing video games, gives off the impression that playing video games instead of going outside may lead to an early death. A handful of other prominent companies in the gaming industry have already spoken out against this ad, including Sega, Atari, Future Publishing, TIGA, ELSPA and MCV.
It's not set in stone yet whether or not SCEE plans on going through with legal action against either The Gate or potentially the British government itself, but the image is definitely provocative from a gamer's point of view. That's not to say we don't value exercise -- we love our sports and physical activities as much as everyone else -- but gaming can certainly be part of a healthy lifestyle.
We'll be sure to watch closely as this develops.
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Comments
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dannycorkers
- 11:39am EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 1
Well this is absolute rubbish - why does the world hate gaming so much lol? :S
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area51employee
- 11:50am EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 8
you know what, my kid can't go outside and play in the winter all that much. so what is he and his mom and i suppose to do? run around the house like crazy people? no, we play games and such. right now, he's outside playing. but later, he'll come in and do homework and play a round or 2 of RB2 or something. he gets his exercise. that ad is a bunch of crap.
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awesomemans
- 11:51am EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 9
Lol, videogame companies are such big babies these days. You think this ONE ad is gonna stop parents from buying their kids games? Look, it's not an ad attacking videogames. Instead, it's an ad attacking staying inside all day. And it's not like it's saying "VIDEOGAMES ARE EVIL! YOU CAN'T PLAY VIDEOGAMES!" Instead it's saying "it's okay to play videogames, as long as you are also active and exercising."
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Shin Asura
- 11:57am EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 11
They need to sue, why does the kid need to be holding a Sony product?
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hary95
- 11:58am EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 13
It's NOT right. They don't like video because one or two stupid kids on this world kill someone and say i did it like i do in video games and now people think that each gamer may be the killer.
I have heard few times in media that some student was shooting to his friends at the university so why nobody is saying that be a student make you a kiler!!!
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west_end_matt
- 12:09pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 16
The media has ALWAYS targeted video games as a negative influence on kids. It's just an easy target for them. Fact, I've grown up with video games since they began, I still love them, I'm very active in kickboxing and Construction and am in pretty damn good shape if I do say so myself. Oh ya I've also never murdered prostitutes, police officers or anyone for that matter.
This is all fluff news and just a recycled ploy for the media to make money.
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O_G_H
- 12:15pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 17
The issue is not exercise, it's food. I don't know about Britain, but here in America the government allows "Big Food" companies to poison us with unhealthy garbage that allows everything from bigger animals (for meat, of course) to longer shelf life. I have been playing games for hours on end all my life...from the Atari 2600. I'm 36 now, and weigh only 162 healthy lbs. I know not to eat garbage. I used to be in the US Army. Guess what? Even though it was PART OF OUR JOB to stay fit, and we worked out almost everyday (and we had no "off-season" like pro sports), many of us were STILL FAT. My fellow soldiers ate horribly.
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kadosThis will permanently ban this user and delete all associated comments. This action is irreversible, are you SURE you want to do this?!
