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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englishgolfer
- 12:40pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 23
i exercise whilst playing games - by going to the fridge to pop open a new beer....
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markwesker
- 12:42pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 25
well adults/kids would go out n do stuff if kids could walk down the street without getting shot or stabbed.i think the goverment ere in britain should make the streets safer first cause at this moment in time people`s lifes have been saved by staying in playing computer games instead of going out n getting shot.
btw sony should sue , it does represent a ps controller which doesnt make sence when most people have a 360 or wii.so why pick on ps brand.
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Acid-Hippie2007
- 1:33pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 32
Bunch of useless crap, targeting the gaming industry with this picture and messege is what I'd call a generalization and is kind of offensive frankly. Most likely thought up by imbeciles from the older generations with an ignorant attitude towards the gaming world.
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bracomadar
- 1:34pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 34
The world would be a better place if people would NOT worry about the children. There has been more suffering brought on this world because someone said "think of the children", or "we must do this to make a better life for our children". Life is short and we're all gonna die, so have fun while you're here. More kids in the world are going to starve to death, or die from malaria, or in war than die from being too fat. Yeah, you worry about your kid dying of an early age because they're too fat. Well, if they're healthy they'll get drafter and shipped off to die in a war...so HA! Why are so many kids fat, because they're parents are too overprotective of them...and they put pressure on them to do well in school, or else they're screwed for life...and it causes stress...and stress makes you eat a lot. BTW, stress leads to early death :)
LOL, I just went to the site listed at the bottom of the ad and it has video of the kid playing a game with controller, but he doesn't even act like he's playing. He acts like he's having a bad day and he doesn't want to do the stupid ad. There is no way he's playing a game, unless he's staring at a loading screen. Anyway, I don't think Sony should sue if it will just bring more attention to the ad. It's kind of like the NAACP getting all up in arms about the New York Post cartoon about the chimp. All it did was sell more papers and get more attention for the NYP. Of course if it's all over Britain and gaining a lot of attention already, sue their pants off :)
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Darkstorn
- 1:45pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 35
Okay, so they didn't get permission from Sony, but what's the big deal?
I hate to play devil's advocate here, but I think we all know that sitting on the couch staring at the TV isn't healthy. The gov. is just trying to get kids to be more active. They had these same ads in the '80s when TV was all the rage, and now thay have ads that show video games in them. So what? As a gamer, I realize that it's difficult to see my entertainment of choice be used in a negative light, but it's for the best.
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BenY0shir0
- 1:47pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 36
My thoughts? British people don't deserve video games in the first place.
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coverton341
- 1:52pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 37
All I want to know is why is it that when a movie wants to display gaming as hip or cool they use an xbox and when someone wants to denounce gaming and portray it as the devil they have to use a PS controller? It just seems so sub-consciencely biased
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LilSciz
- 1:54pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 38
@dannycorkers
The real reason why people hate games and say it leads to violence and this and that is because the media, being TV, has real people with real feelings but video games are just make believe characters with no real feelings. In other words, it's an easy scapegoat to use without hearing it yell back at you about it. Sad really...
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LFDN
- 2:01pm EDT - March 9th, 2009
- 39
for some reason I'm angery at this ad half of the anger is toward that gay kid he looks like his a 360 fanboy he probable told the peopele who did this ad to use a look a like sony controler, the other anger is coming from the statement their cleary trying make it's like their saying who ever plays game mite die because we are lazzy wow and I think Sony should sue their butts off because when I saw that picture I automataclly throught of the Playstation controler
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