Violence can be fun too

The debate of wether or not video games have any impact on violent behaviors is still up in the air, but it seems as if the people at Microsoft are taking advantage of that very debate. In this banned Xbox 360 commercial we see a very large group of people pretending to shoot and kill each other. In the background we hear playful music playing, the purpose is to create a sense that something like this is fun.




An interesting thing about this ad is that the product itself is never shown. If you were to take out the end of the commercial with the Xbox 360 logo you would never know what it is for. Video games are becoming an increasingly social experience now with services like Xbox Live. This ad is creating a desire for that sort of a social experience more than the actual console because that experience is only obtainable through this specific console. The only difference here is that the ad is depicted in real life (which is most likely where the controversy of this specific ad came from).

The tagline “Jump In” creates a sense that anyone can just pick it up and have fun. It may be giving a wrong impression however through the parallels between this ad and real life tragedies. Essentially what this specific ad is saying is that it is fun to participate in this social experience, killing your friends in a video game. It makes the viewer wish that life were more like a video game. The focus of more recent Xbox 360 ads seems to be about creating a fun environment to play with friends and socialize. This new focus is obviously trying to break down stereotypes associated with video games that kids don’t socialize.

In this ad for Mountain Dew, we see the new flavor “Game Fuel” created as a way to market Halo 3. The ad shows people all around the world playing Halo 3 while drinking the Mountain Dew Game Fuel. This is interesting because a separate company that has no connection to the video game industry is now promoting this desire to socialize through video games.




In this new ad we assume that the men yelling have lost a game of Halo 3, after a montage of yelling we see a man in his home laughing, having a good time. It is apparent that he beat everyone else. After he wins he grabs a bottle of game fuel. In this ad we are shown multiple advertisements. The specific ad is promoting Mountain Dew, but in addition we are shown images of the Xbox 360, Halo 3, and others playing online and participating in the social experience that i mentioned earlier.

Both of these ads purposes are to make the audience want to participate in the multiplayer aspect of the game, in a sense its showing the viewer that you’ll have friends. Which is odd that they would try and “sell” friendship. Ultimately the ad creates this desire to play these games with your friends.

Where these ads fail however is that the core audience that they’re marketing to most likely have these consoles or games. The very people who would understand the desire to have a giant shootout have already played those types of games and most likely already own the system. So making an ad that would be designed to bring in more “hardcore” gamers is a little pointless. Because those are the people that already own it. Microsoft should shift its focus onto bringing in a wider audience.

The core demographic of the Xbox 360 are males between the ages of 16 and 25, So their games would have a more mature nature to them. But marketing the “experience” of playing with your friends doesn’t really add much desire for that core demographic because they would already be aware of that aspect. The first ad for someone who doesn’t play video games may see it as irresponsible and may not understand it. But those who play these types of games would enjoy seeing the commercial as it depicts video game scenarios in a real life environment. Selling a social experience to the gamers that are already aware of its existence is a little pointless.

Nick Aldrich
TA: David Witzling