Tuesday, November 5, 2002 |
22:27 - Blockbuster Courts Gamers
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news.php3?date=2002-11-04
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...And does a pretty piss-poor job of it, too, according to Penny Arcade.
Obviously this ad is intended to get gamers interested in renting games from Blockbuster. So they decided the best way to do that would be to lure us in with an unflattering caricature of our subculture. I can just imagine a table full of advertising execs trying desperately to pin down the defining characteristics of that most sought after of all demographics, the 18-24 year old male. "They wear funny clothes like a clown or a hippy," says one exec before he takes a long pull from his coffee coolata. "Their hair is really messy," says another as he tries desperately not to think about his erectile dysfunction and the devastating effect it has had on his marriage. "I saw one today at the mall and he seemed very extreme." They all nod and murmur in agreement. "So what we need then is a messy-haired clown who seems vaguely extreme." Then they all pat each other on the back and joke about who is buying lunch. Jackasses.
I love how caricature cuts both ways.
Anyway-- good, I was hoping for a new reason not to rent from Blockbuster, now that the statute of limitations on public disgust over their censoring of Reservoir Dogs has pretty much run out.
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