Product placement in games.

ObeyGiant

BlitzKrieg wrote:

Products change advertising campaigns AND the products change quite reguraly so wont alot of the placement become worthless as the games age. Its like that bizarre love affair that advertisers had with adverts on vhs cassettes. never really took off.

Well, this isn't a major problem in, say, an MMORPG. Unfortunately, these games are still seen as an extremely limited 'niche' market, so I doubt that we'll see a massive uptake for the next while. But as we move closer and closer to an always-online culture, my guess is that we'll reach a stage where games will regularly 'download' new advertisments from time to time.

Fysh

Got a reply from the ASAI folks...sooner than I thought, too:

"I refer to your email of 18th April.

The function of the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland is to
promote the highest standards of advertising and to enforce the Codes of
Advertising Standards and of Sales Promotion Practice. We are prepared
to investigate complaints about advertisements that may be considered to
be in breach of the Codes.

Product placement is not considered commercial advertising under the
ASAI Code. The other issues you raise in your email regarding
advertising in video games could be considered under the ASAI Codes. We
will be reviewing our Codes during 2005 and we will take account of the
issues you have raised in your email. The current ASAI Codes can be
viewed on our website at: www.asai.ie.

Yours sincerely,

Orla Twomey,
ASSISTANT CHIEF EXECUTIVE."

Looks like they won't be up to doing much for us, then. Mind you, this being an organization set up by advertisers, that's hardly surprising...still, the more people raise these kind of issues the more pressure there'll be on them to act.

For the interested, my original email was :

"Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to enquire about the ASAI guidelines and policies;
specifically to ask whether they currently include companies that
develop and sell videogames and, in the event that these companies are
not included, to ask if any steps are being taken or will be taken
soon to include them.

The reason for this enquiry is that advertising and product placement
are becoming more and more common in videogames. This is due both to
the increasing development costs of such games (which makes
advertising an attractive source of additional revenue), and the
increasing popularity of online gaming (which allows for adverts to be
renewed or refreshed at the advertiser's whim, rather than remaining
static - making in-game advertising a more attractive propositionto
advertisers). In light of this, as a gamer I would like to know what
standards such in-game advertising or product placement should be
adhering to, and what action can be taken in cases where I feel those
standards have not been met. Would these standards vary if, for
example, the product is offered at a discounted price with adverts or
full-price without? Would it be allowable under your existing
guidelines for games companies to include acceptance of any ads into
the software license provided with the game?

For more information regarding advertising within games, please see
the following links :

http://www.massiveincorporated.com/
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/04/11/news_6121928.html
http://www.grimwell.com/?action=fullnews&id=265"

(Yes, I know, it seems somewhat condescending. But then again, I'm often amazed at the total lack of technical savvy to be found in these sorts of organizations....)

BlitzKrieg

so they replied by saying essentially...no comment. *sigh*

po0k

Don't buy the games.

iregk

I dont mean to sound damp squid here but this is ireland, id say nothing will be done here. i.e. they propose to put in guidlines in place, companies flash the good oul building bricks of this country (the brown envelope) and the proposal goes away.

Its all too familiar in this country.

Fysh

No, but from this thread a lot of people are saying that things like product placement and in-game advertising annoy them - especially when the money earned by the game developer in doing so is not accordingly slashed from the cover price of the game. I dislike the idea of doing nothing, so if we can kick someone in the ass who is supposed to be doing this then why not? There's no point being defeatist about it, although I can't see it being particularly easy or swift to get a body like the ASAI to get involved (given that, from their email, they didn't even seem to be aware that videogames feature such ads).

jaggeh

I was playing Mercedes-Benz World Racing last year

that game did more harm to mercedes than good imo

not to mention the fact that distro's are trying to jack up the retail prices by 15% over the next year due to presure from retailers (im sure)

to be completly honest, i have no problem with ads in games, as long as they are kept on the downlow, when im walking down the street and see a billboard i expect to see an advert there, when im playing a videogame and i dont expect the character to be lecturing me on the benefits of chewing airwaves.

iregk

Ireland really needs to start taking the French approach. If we don’t like it grind the entire country to a standstill until it gets changed. Not like our current model, complaining and moaning about the price of a pint and then going out and drinking 8 of them at the weekend!!! We have the power people, inflation and everything is driven by us, we all boycott anything it will change or risk loosing money.

DonkeyStyle \o/

SyxPak wrote:

Don't buy the games.

Yup, it's the only language they understand. (well that, and legislation)
Although it's hard to know which games to avoid.
Are there any anti-product-placement-in-games websites that have a big shít-list of offending games? I recall there being a list of games that were loaded with StarForce(?) crap-ware... I can see more sites popping up in protest of adds.