Microsoft pulls handgun 360 ad

"Standoff" promo shows citizens "shooting" each other with imaginary weapons. Company says ad shown only to select audiences.

The launch of the Xbox 360 not only brought with it long lines, mass console shortages, and panic among parents, but it was also accompanied by a barrage of promotions, advertisements, and marketing. The creative types responsible for marketing the console came up with a clever ad that touted the 360's communal feel.

Problem is, hardly anyone saw it.

The commercial, dubbed "Standoff," begins with two normal men exchanging "You gotta problem?" looks at each other while passing in a busy building. One brandishes a "handgun"--literally, his hand with fingers bent to form the shape of a gun--and points it at the other gentleman. The targeted individual returns the favor, and soon everyone in the building is wielding some form of imaginary weapon and pointing them at one another in a tense moment.

One pulls his "trigger" and accompanies the shot by saying, "bang!" and a faux fragfest ensues. The shooting spills out into the street, and all types of people get involved in the action, taking aim at each other and collapsing when they are "shot."

The ad never made it to television, and was seen only in brief appearances at Microsoft's promotional events, such as the Zero Hour launch event in Southern California. It did, however, flourish on the Internet, where several Web sites have hosted it.

Being the hotbed of speculation that it is, Internet users came to their own conclusions about the ad's fate. Some thought that even the gestures of shooting people could have been deemed too violent, so Microsoft's lawyers pulled it. Others believed that either the FCC or television networks didn't approve the spot, keeping it out of the public.

When contacted about the ad, Microsoft told GameSpot, "While these particular rumors are not substantiated, Microsoft did make the conscious decision to only preview the ad to select audiences and not to air on network TV. The ad is called Standoff and we did 'preview' it with the lucky gamers who attended the recent Zero Hour launch event in Palmdale, Calif., which presented an ideal hard core gaming audience to introduce this ad spot to."

123 Comments

  • mrslick151

    Posted Dec 9, 2005 9:56 am PT

    Man, I remember playing that kind of game as a kid! I might have to get some buddies together and take it back to the old skool!

    Commercial was dope.

  • chybby

    Posted Dec 8, 2005 11:24 pm PT

    with the short number of 360s Ithink they should pull back the ads abit, just to stop adding oil to the fire....

  • blacktwister

    Posted Dec 8, 2005 1:59 pm PT

    WTF it's good? Great thing they banned that because it's sorry. It's pathetic and the music is crap and it doesn't fit the microsoft. Wished they use articfical weapons though and not finger pointing. Forget the ads and focus more on the xbox 360. More profit duh, Microsoft has been own.

  • Khadgoroth

    Posted Dec 6, 2005 7:33 am PT

    I sure as hell know I'd rather be shot by a fake gun than a real gun... But if this ad were to stay on the air... it would have... corrupted the youth? They would all run around shooting at each other with their fingers. Who knows what could have been next!? Rubber bands!? The horror!

  • brownknight

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 4:18 pm PT

    funny ad i got a kick watching it.

  • RMGreen

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 1:00 pm PT

    I think people saying the ad was 'banned' didn't read the article above. It seems pretty clear to me that Microsoft consiously chose not to air it on TV. And I think they made the rigth decision. I thought it was a fun commercial, but I think most people are missing the real reason why it would have caused a lot of problems. It wasn't people making fake guns and yelling 'Bang!' that would cause problems, it was the REACTION the people had to being 'shot'. For the most part, they were 'Hollywood-realistic' 'deaths' that could be disturbing to young children. To rephrase, it wasn't the obviously fake 'shooting' that was a problem, it was the semi-realistic 'being shot' that wouldn't go over well.

  • ufopuller

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 12:57 pm PT

    GUNS - What to they think we use in these games -"Bad language"?

  • blacktwister

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 9:15 am PT

    Ad was badass good thing it's wasn't air on TV.

  • antifener89

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 9:02 am PT

    I think it was a very good and creative advertisement and come on how violent can you get with imaginary weapons?? I think its silly to think this ad would affect the youth and just read Autolycus' coment, I totally agree with that.

  • NeleNel

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 8:39 am PT

    Yea, I agree with Opinionated. It's a great ad, but this day in age, it can be said it easily promotes violence and yadda yadda blah blah. Though I have to say, I do hate people talking on the cell phone, ruining a perfectly good mock gun fight.

  • MrOpinionated

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 7:10 am PT

    If 9/11 and this whole War on Terror and pointless Iraq War didn't happen, this commericial would be on the air. No matter, it's on the internet, mirrored on many sites. People will see it and distribute it, therefore its not really banned, just unaired on TV.

  • LordOfMidnight

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 4:49 am PT

    They should have left the ad alone because the ones on TV right now are horrible!

  • SHADOWSTRYK3R

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 4:24 am PT

    It was banned?

  • williamsonpe

    Posted Dec 5, 2005 3:16 am PT

    might have made a good ad. not sure if entirely pc tho. for the best that it never got out, or jack thopson would have had a field day. 'its like columbine all over again'

  • CareyxFMXxHart

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 5:59 pm PT

    that commercial sounds like a good idea, im gunan go look for it right now.

  • PsychoDuckRules

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 10:44 am PT

    The only ads I've seen are the awful "Water Balloon Fight" and "Jump Rope", as I've dubbed them. This one sounds kinda fun, though. Maybe I'll go check it out.

  • first_gunman

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 10:30 am PT

    Holy crap. It's anothr reason for afternoon news shows to complain about video games. Thank god this never made it.

  • crazy_ferret123

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 10:15 am PT

    **** microsoft for the shortage. they are sony and nintendos adopted twin sister

  • TAKEDOWNKID1820

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 9:25 am PT

    Lol glad it was not real weapons.

  • KamaKase

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 9:13 am PT

    Remember the previous one. "Life is short. Play more". People complained as it was insensitive to 'mother's who had just given birth' (which of course is absolutely stupid, because it's a celebration of life....make the most of it. Soon you'll be banned from mentioning death anywhere as it might be insulting).

    So who's this one insulting to? People who fell over when running away from someone pulling out their hand?

  • hotplayer220

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 8:37 am PT

    If you would like to see the commercial it is quite funny.I will give you a link to see it first hand.

    http://www.break.com/articles/xbox360banned.html

    Just copy and paste this into your web browser and enjoy!

  • hectorpk

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 7:23 am PT

    HI. I think NEWS programs on TV show more violence in their news reports, than this commercial. But thanks to INTERNET people with wide criterion can see it AND ENJOY IT.

  • tim2027uk

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 5:57 am PT

    Sounds like a lot of fuss over nothing! Over here in the UK i've seen a similar advert and noone batted an eyelid

  • Ryuketsu2043

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 3:52 am PT

    lol that comercial rocks man! Like Ninja said..im sick of this "Oh people get offended" by every little thing

  • Zerocool_THWC

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 3:42 am PT

    lol ninja18

  • ninjai18

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 1:58 am PT

    I agree robbygurung, if this is banned then fake guns from Toys R Us should be as well. I guess it's ok for kids to play with imaginary guns and pretend to shoot each other but it's not ok for adults to.... *rollseyes*

  • ninjai18

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 1:56 am PT

    CheeseBurn and someguy503 I couldn't agree more, I am SO sick of all this politically correct BS. People really need to CHILL out with the over censorship and being so damn politically correct and getting offended by EVERYTHING! I am SO SO SO f'ing SICK OF IT!

  • Makenshi

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 1:21 am PT

    I would of enjoyed it if I saw it. MS did a good thing to pull it or else there would be a lot of trouble from parents and other anti-gaming committee.

  • robbygurung

    Posted Dec 4, 2005 12:01 am PT

    HAHAHAHAHAHA lol rotfl thats is just funny grown men and women making stupid gun noises y ban it it might make people buy more x box 360s.
    The best bit is the guy who gets "shot" in the car

  • mattyoung

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 11:36 pm PT

    I thought the whole thing was quite entertaining. I mean, our culture is totally ok with that kind of thing nowadays. Maybe they did the right thing to keep it from public viewers. It really didn't bother me that much though.

  • mad_max01

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 11:36 pm PT

    Why remove this add after so many people have seen it?
    Well, if that's what Microsoft Wants then please stop going to http://www.break.com/articles/xbox360banned.html to see this add that's still available to view.

    Please don't visit http://www.break.com/articles/xbox360banned.html


  • mezonesxbox

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 10:42 pm PT

    MORE 360's less adds (specially like this one)!!! NO more Toni Hawk games too!!!!!

  • boyblob

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 9:14 pm PT

    I saw the commercial a few days ago on another site. I think it's the best right after the water baloons. It's really clever. The one with the urban style people jumping over the jump rope is plain boring though.

  • someguy503

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 9:08 pm PT

    Thank you FCC, way to make everyone paranoid and scared about playing around with imaginary guns

  • sinceps1

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 9:07 pm PT

    great ad. Die haters..!

  • RewolfJ

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 8:44 pm PT

    People need to stop acting so outraged at the possibility it was pulled from fear of censorship. No duh there's nothing 'wrong' with it, but I would hate to see it air because it reinforces the assumption to non-gamers that video games are just mindless mass-murder simulations (especially given this is a console ad, not an ad for a particular game).

  • TRICKSTERX

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 8:36 pm PT

    it's hilarious it should be on Tv but todays government is to close minded and parents are to irresponsible. But i would love to this get air on tv.

  • redeyes251

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 8:02 pm PT

    I never saw it

  • kruegersc4

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 8:00 pm PT

    The only ones that wouldn't like the ad would probably be the only ones that would never buy a 360 due to the violent games.

  • Dizarel

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 7:45 pm PT

    That is the best fliping commercial M$ has shown yet for the new slogan. Understandable why they haven't aired it.

  • Striker426

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 7:19 pm PT

    awesome commercial.

  • FbaBaller15

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 7:10 pm PT

    This ad is too good not to air on tv, it shows exactly what microsoft is trying to get across for the 360, anybody and everybody can join into the massive xbox community.

  • jsr14DS

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 6:56 pm PT

    Funny..........but the music in the backgroundmade the video..............um less funny i guess. If there was a different song playing in the background it could have been better. But dont get me wrong it was still pretty funny, like when the person threw a gernade and the people jumped up into the air acting like they got blown up.........yea.

  • lucser

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 6:28 pm PT

    one of the coolest promotional things I've seen. It represents all the multiplayer goodness any game has, even if it's microsoft. We need more stuff like the Ratchet and Clank commercials to show some of the originality the guys are doing with this stuff. It would've been a perfect SuperBowl Commercial...Now sony, do a Coca Cola one with Solid Snake...

  • CaptainCrazy

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 5:51 pm PT

    I just saw the ad! I must say it is quite funny and it's not vulgar or distastefully violent at all. Come on even kids do this when they play cowboy's and indians. Oh no, I guess that's not a politically correct statement either. What on earth is the world coming too? First there is this big battle over saying happy holidays or merry christmas and now any commercial that even shows the slightest form of agression is banned from the air!?!?

  • kirkover

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 5:51 pm PT

    too violent ? they were imaginary guns !

  • l989d

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 5:28 pm PT

    Yeah this ad is pretty hilarious....it's just plain fun to watch. Just another demonstration of how screwed up tv is that plenty of commercials have horribly nasty stuff on them but something like this isn't "politically correct"

  • CSM55

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 5:22 pm PT

    I think a war is FAR more offensive. But then again, I'm not some rich white guy or some religious nut

  • Themage

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 4:55 pm PT

    I think its funny they pull that stuff from tv but can show all this real horro that is going on.

  • Carcrafter7

    Posted Dec 3, 2005 4:30 pm PT

    matricks so you are saying economicly challenged kids cant depict that what they are seeing on tv is just fake and kids that are rich can and that you think kids cant pretend to shoot each other with there hands when they are just playing around and not being sereious GOD i hate you politacly correct a** holes

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