Crime Life ad under fire

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Mar 1, 2006 5:32 pm PT

Print advertisement for Konami's thugged-up action game banned for potentially racist portrayal of black men, irresponsible encouragement of violence.

Last week, a pair of Activision's Call of Duty 2 ads were ordered off from British TV because some viewers mistook their prerendered computer graphics movies as a representation of actual gameplay. Today, a print ad for Konami's Crime Life: Gang Wars in the London edition of Metro was similarly banned by The Advertising Standards Authority, a UK-based independent body that governs over the country's advertising codes.

A complainant objected that the ad was offensive and irresponsible because it "exploited racial stereotypes, glorified violence, and encouraged antisocial behavior." The ad showed five black men set against a street scene, wielding guns, a baseball bat, and a hammer. The tagline "Rule the streets or fall by the wayside" appeared above the scene.

Konami defended itself, saying the ad was not racist, since the men in it represented members of the rap group D12, who appear in the game. It also said that while the weapons and slogan may be suggestive of violence, it didn't actually depict anything violent. The ASA ordered Konami not to run it again based on the fact that the ad violated codes regarding taste and decency, violence and antisocial behavior, and advertiser responsibility. For its part, Konami told the agency that it hadn't received any complaints about the ad and had no plans to run it again anyway.

35 Comments

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Mar 6, 2006 5:32 am PT

    they should ban the stupid game too.

  • quietguy

    Posted Mar 3, 2006 10:37 am PT

    Silly Brits...outraged about violence when Euro has no moderation over sex... And has a violent history in the 18th century. LoL

  • outsidethewall

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 5:49 pm PT

    I wonder if they realize that they're just demonstrating the inequalities of society and - dare I say it - being racist by saying it's stereotyping black people?

    If they replaced them with white guys, no one would care. It should be the same for people of any other race. Then we will be truly equal.

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 5:04 pm PT

    interesting......

  • Tskull

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 1:09 pm PT

    Oh Bro, I can not wait for Tom Clancey's to get in the stores. Man this is saw cool

  • cube-gage

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 12:53 pm PT

    everything is like that over here in the uk, supposed upper class "liberals"
    talk about stuff they have know idea about.
    americas justice system is superb compared with ours where everything is one sided. and murderers are made out to be the victims, and a life sentence over here is usually about 11 months!

  • nellbrown

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 11:49 am PT

    funny when the hot coffee thing happnd - no1 over here could care less-papers-politicians any1 yet america went crazy - ban the ad the game is still for sale, id buy it if it didnt suck

  • FeldmanSkitzoid

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 11:30 am PT

    Good. Like we need another game about the "thug life" anyway, especially one that is obviously just crap designed to cash in on a current fad.

  • jake21

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 11:06 am PT

    political correctness in this country (the UK) is goin over the limits...its like a new dictatorship...u cant say this..u cant do that...ul offend this groupe...what happened to freedom of speach????

  • StillWingless

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 10:29 am PT

    ...i understand complaints against misleading advertising, but those arguing against racism have become so hyper-sensitive, i find it hard to accept their complaints in issues like this.

  • Sinister904

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 8:34 am PT

    i agree with London

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 7:59 am PT

    Why are Britons so scared?

  • Fatality4u

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 6:55 am PT

    Dear lord, what is this world coming to when you can't run commercials like that.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 6:34 am PT

    If Crime Life is a racist portrayal of black men, then I'm guessing Getting Up shows how stupid white guys are? This is insane..

  • dwmorrow

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 6:02 am PT

    Lame. Then again this is the same country that censored the headbutt scene out of Attack of the Clones (apparently a beheading is ok, but a headbutt? Way too violent), so are we really surprised? I agree about the Call of Duty ad. Gamers probably knew the footage was prerendered, but I had several people (clueless non-gamers) asking me over and over during the holiday season if I had seen the ad, telling me how awesome and lifelike the graphics were, etc. I kept trying to nicely mention that it was prerendered, but to no avail....

  • Reetesh

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 5:02 am PT

    The Europeans are VERY sensitive to Violence where as the OTHER thing they dont mind Shown in Games

  • David_W

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 2:47 am PT

    I remember when the ad for the Friday 13th game (a knife through a hocky mask in a pool of blood) caused outrage...my gosh, that was - what - 1984?

  • bj91x

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 1:01 am PT

    Wow, an ad with just pictures of people standing around encourages anti social behavior? WOW!!! Up next, an ad with a small square MUST BE REMOVED as it may give hearattack to an old man with claustrophobia. Oh, and don't forget that Camel cigarette ad. You can see its toe. OMG, people, hide your children. They should not be looking at such sexual advertisement!!!

  • KiLLer_ba

    Posted Mar 2, 2006 12:46 am PT

    I agree people are stupid, Its a damn commericial. Mtv has that stuff 24/7.

  • Kfoss

    Posted Mar 1, 2006 10:59 pm PT

    thats BS man...you see that junk all the time on MTV and no one cares!!!!!
    people are stupid!

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