XBOX TV AD BANNED IN U.K. BY ITC
More bad news hit Microsoft Thurs. as Britain’s Independent TV Commission banned TV ad for Xbox videogame console after it received 136 complaints from viewers who found it offensive, shocking and in bad taste. Action came as Microsoft was mounting uphill battle to compete against Sony’s PlayStation 2 (PS2) in Europe, where it reduced Xbox price before SRP cut in U.S., and less than week after MIT student said he hacked Xbox security system and posted his findings at school’s Web site (CED June 5 p3).
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Ad -- “Champagne” -- was created for Microsoft by London- based Bartle Bogle Hegarty. It starts with woman giving birth to baby boy. In surreal sequence following birth, screaming baby goes flying out window and ages rapidly as he travels at high speed through air. Baby finally crashes into his own grave as old man. Tag line at end of spot is “Life is short. Play more.”
ITC said complaints it received included one from pregnant woman and another from new mother, who it said “objected in particular to the childbirth scene.” Most, however, found image of body crashing into grave “extremely disturbing,” ITC said, adding: “Twenty recently bereaved viewers found the advertisement particularly offensive and one viewer who had lost a child during childbirth found the advertisement to be an upsetting reminder of her own experience. Many viewers, including some who had had a major illness, considered the [tag line at ad’s end], when combined with the imagery, to be especially insensitive. The other complainants made more general comments about the tone of the advertisement and the striking imagery which showed a rapidly aging man.”
Reports from U.K. indicated Microsoft planned to continue showing ad at movie theaters. U.S. Microsoft spokesman was unable to confirm that by our deadline, but he told us company had no plan to run ad here. Microsoft issued statement in London saying: “Champagne is a short film created as a ‘viral’ marketing piece for the Xbox launch. It underlines, in a highly engaging and visual way, the Xbox philosophy -- that life is short, our time is precious and everyone should find more opportunities to play in our daily lives. Xbox originally developed Champagne for the Internet as a ‘viral’ piece. The response from Web users around the world was overwhelmingly positive -- so much so that we decided to share it with a wider audience via television. Unfortunately, we have been asked by the ITC to remove Champagne from television due to a minority of viewers who complained about the commercial. Champagne will no longer be aired on television, but will remain available at www.playmore.com. We did not set out to offend any viewers, and in fact are surprised that a minority of viewers took offense at Champagne.”
TV spot had been approved by U.K.’s Bcst. Advertising Clearance Center (BACC), which said spot had demonstrated man’s journey from birth to death in fast and hard-hitting way to stress point that life was short and therefore should be enjoyed. ITC said it “did not agree that the advertisement conveyed a ‘positive statement about life,’ as Microsoft claimed.” Indeed, ITC said it thought “man’s screams throughout his life’s journey suggested a traumatic experience, which, together with the reminder that life is short, made the final scene more shocking.” ITC said it also reminded BACC of “need to be sensitive about references to death in advertisements… Advertisements cannot be avoided by those who are grieving in the way that programs whose content is flagged in advance can. In that context it considered that the final scene of a body smashing into its grave was unnecessary and had caused considerable distress to many viewers.” Therefore, ITC said, it ordered ad “not to be re-shown in its current form.”
ITC is statutory body created by Broadcasting Act of 1990 to license and regulate commercial TV in U.K. Group also has duty under Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations of 1988 to consider complaints about misleading TV ads.
Sony is no stranger to offbeat ads that at least some have found offensive either. In late 2000, Sony Electronics killed TV ad campaign for its SonyStyle.com Web site in U.S. after concerns were raised. Report at time said several cable networks objected to commercial that featured Santa Claus being chloroformed and dumped into trunk of car. Although Sony spokeswoman admitted then concerns had been raised by campaign, she told us she was “not at liberty to say” specifically who raised the objections. Another Sony spokeswoman said “based on some preliminary feedback there was concern that consumers might misinterpret the edginess of the campaign.”