Great article Mitch! The way I see it, it is like these ads are similar to smear campaigns in political races. It's all just to show how evil/bad the competition is to try and sway your decision. I am a person that believes if you show me what is good about your game instead of wasting money and talent creating "this game sucks, play our game" ads. I would care more about said game.

I understand and agree with what you're saying, Mr. Mitch, but I can't help but love both the Blur and Saints Row 2 ads. I don't know what that says about me, except I'm maybe willing to look past the issue if I find the commercial funny.

These advertisements might be a marketing tool--state the obvious observations that many gamers will make. Saints Row reminds them of Grand Theft Auto; Blur is oddly similar to Mario. And the publishers reply, "Yes! It is like that, but here's how we're different!" Thus, they come out with a funny ad that ridicules the source material to grab gamers' attention. There's hypocrisy in it, but maybe that's a new way of advertising. It's kinda of callous, using something as bad as hypocrisy to win sales and attention.

As an aside, this was a good article. There plenty of examples and evidence to support your topic and it's not so short that I'm left wanting more, but rather I feel that enough has been said. More can be said, of course, but that's why readers provide comments.

This was quite an amusing and intelligent story, Mitch. Good luck with your future writing gig! It's funny that the companies that are making these "badvertisements" are the ones that are losing in their respective competitions. Saints Row sold nothing compared to GTA; Mario Kart's sales would completely roll over Blur; and I'm assuming the iTunes App Store is blowing the PSP's digital sales out of the water.

Chris: Like I said, I like the ads too! They're funny, well-made, and definitely attention-grabbing. I'm just bummed by how aggressive they are to products and ideas they essentially owe their existence to. It's a shallow method of getting your attention, even if it works well.

They're condescending, but at least they're not just another montage of "epic" gameplay that got a "5/5 by such-and-such-high-profile-magazine". That's what I'm getting sick of seeing.

And even above the tired gaming montage commercials, at least its not the "All I Want for Xmas is a PSP" campaign. *That* was painfully hilarious, pathetic ad campaign. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9667870-1.html

Great post!  Because I was in advertising for about 7 years, I think about game and console advertising quite a bit.  I remember how the whole negative advertising thing was always looked down upon.  Like it was lazy or cheating, akin to putting big-breasted women in beer ads.

For me, ads with striking imagery and great music always catch my eye.  I play games on a big LCD, and I watch my TV shows in HD, so why not show off what you're selling and give me a demo in a commercial?  Ads that come to mind are: the Fallout ad where they pull back from the in-dash radio and the "Ain't No Sunshine" ad for Dante's Inferno.

These are ads that speak to me and either motivate me to seek out more information or encourage me to buy.  Funny ads make me laugh, not buy.  Similarly, I don't drink Bud Light... but thanks for the laughs!

I think these ads also try to take advantage of a person's born in desire to go out and buy the next big game before everyone else. They're cleverly saying "You thought this other game was great, well that's nothing compared our game. It's cooler/better than that other one." If the consumer is thinking this, there's a good chance he or she will purchase said game. Even more important than purchasing the game, the new owner will then have the urge to be the first to tell their friends how much better/cooler this game is than that old game they're playing is. Said friends then want to go out and buy new game. These ads (as well as many others) are going for those chain reaction of purchases. This technique works especially well with teens and adolescents, hence the age of the boy in the sony commercial. For better or worse this I think this technique works as long as it's done in a clever and humorous way.

*IF* the consumer thinks that. I feel like an ad telling you that you need to grow up and quit playing the kiddy crap is telling you you're wrong for liking what you like. To me, that puts me off a product.

I don't really see the harm in marketing like this, as long as it hits a chord. I loved that blur ad, simply because that's how I feel about most Nintendo games. I sort of outgrew Nintendo's fluffy style around the Playstation era, and I thought it was a clever ad because it illustrated how I felt. That said, I probably won't play blur because I'm not into racing games (probably won't play Mario Kart, either). I don't think it's really fair to compare the two games' sales figures-- one's a Wii game for shit sake, it's bound to sell more than the other because of its audience.

I guess I just see these types of ads more as playful ribbing, rather than outright attacking.

What bothers me about the PSP ad campaign is that Marcus seems like a stereotype of a black teen, not a real teen.

@jason, It is not really the stereotype of a black teen, but the character in the movie the actor played in Role Models.

Great article.  I've always loved your stuff, Mitch.  Good read.

Gabe: Thanks, as always. :)

Jason: Juan is right -- the Marcus character is a carbon copy of the mouthpiece from Role Models, albeit far more subdued and significantly less profane. Still, that character doesn't fit game marketing.

@Juan @Mitch But is that Role Models character a stereotype of black youth?

Jason's right as well, there are certain stereotypical characteristics that the actor's characters share.