Burnout Ads Pulled from UK Subway
June 28th, 2007 by Rajiv Ashrafi in PSP, PlayStation 2
Well, it seems that the British are non-violent people, as they don’t like Burnout ads. A series of advertisements for Burnout Dominator, the crash-heavy racer, was pulled from the UK subway after the Advertising Standards Authority received 37 complaints from travelers who found the message o f “inner peace through outer violence” offensive.
“We noted Electronic Arts argument that the ad’s message was that playing the Burnout Dominator game might relieve stress and tension in real life,” said ASA, adding that “the vivid depiction of the crashed car and burning tyre, combined with the slogans implication that people could achieve inner peace through acts of violence, was likely to cause serious or widespread offence.”
This isn’t the first time video game ads have come under fire in the UK. Previous ads for Crime Life: Gang Wars were demanded to be removed from a newspaper: it showed five men holding guns, with the tagline “Rule the streets or fall by the wayside.” The ad was found to be “offensive and irresponsible” by the ASA.
As for the Burnout ads, the ASA concluded that “the images of a car that seemed to have crashed at high speed and a burning tyre, together with a reference to violence, could be seen to condone a violent lifestyle, anti-social behaviour or dangerous driving.”
Tags: PlayStation 2, PSP
