Sony glamorise violence in new PS3 ad

Mike Bantick
Thursday, 09 August 2007 05:03

Your IT - Entertainment

Another PR gaff, or clever use of viral marketing? Sony have come under the spotlight of the world’s media again with a new PlayStation 3 advert supposedly glamorising violence banned in the UK.

The ad in question was shown on Yahoo and British Telecom websites and features the PS3 slogan “This is Living” and the Kovac character from a previous series of PS3 commercials.

In the advert Kovak is holding a knife and gun with associated text cryptically announcing "You on my side? Listen up I've killed for less. The music plays Puccini in my head."

On the Yahoo website potential viewers needed to provide a date of birth to “prove” they were over 18 years of age.

Unfortunately for Sony, the UK Advertising Standards Authority saw through this flimsy age protection; “We considered that there was an underlying tone of violence in the ad and we were concerned that the images of Kovac holding the knife and the gun, in conjunction with the text, 'You on my side? Listen up I've killed for less..." could be seen to glamorise violence or anti-social behaviour. We asked Sony to amend future internet ads where the content could be seen to condone or glamorise violence or anti-social behaviour.”