In Real Life

PS3 Ads Still Not Learning: Nazi Blood Infusion Madness

1:40PM September 30, 2009 | Luke Plunkett

Sony have a chequered past when it comes to advertising their consoles. Some ads have been memorable, others, highly controversial. And while they’re now just mostly memorable the US and Europe, in Chile, they’re… using Nazis.

These two award-winning print ads, put together by Chilean agency BBDO, depict a Regular Joe – presumably someone who has bought, or is about to buy a PS3 – on a hospital bed. In one, he’s giving a heart transplant to Joan of Arc. A flame-resistant suit may have been a better option, but then, it’s not as touching.

But in the other? The same Regular Joe is in a Nazi hospital (complete with swastika bed heads) giving a blood transfusion to the Desert Fox himself, Feldmarschall Erwin Rommel. Who, despite escaping the war with his reputation (if not his life) intact, was at the end of the day still a Nazi general. So… if you buy a PS3, you can… save Rommel, and… win the war for the Nazis? That’s all I’m seeing here.

Erwin Rommel, Joan of Arc resurrected by PlayStation 3 [copyrant]

Comments

  • annonie

    September 30, 2009 at 4:07 PM

    what the hell is wrong with sonys advertising division. seriously. the only advert i ever think has been acceptable let alone excellent was the ‘get on board’. they need a big slap in the fkn face. Nazi blood transfusion…WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!

  • bernard

    September 30, 2009 at 5:53 PM

    You gotta be Sherlock Holmes to decipher the ad’s message.

    • Cameron Chu

      October 1, 2009 at 12:32 AM

      I will most probably be wrong but perhaps it has to do with the power and might of the PS3? Assuming the young dude owns a PS3 it might suggest that that ‘power’ runs through him, such that it can give life to even to greatest of people.

      Then, Sony, assuming that people would understand this will go out and buy a PS3 because they decided to be all artsy and subtle about advertising how powerful their console is instead of the usual direct bragging of how powerful it is.

      Just a wild guess here, of course. Or was it Holmesian deduction I just did there? =P

  • DONAR

    September 30, 2009 at 9:30 PM

    Remember when we thought that the borderline racism of the white PSP ads was the worst they could do?

  • Peter

    October 1, 2009 at 9:04 AM

    I reckon its funky, I like it alot.
    Both of them, is that wrong? Me thinks not!!

  • j

    October 1, 2009 at 12:05 PM

    nothing about it says PS3 except the PS3 written in the top corner. Another Sony marketing FAIL.

    Remember those sony ads from the 90′s for handycams and stuff? sony has a history of weird, freaky advertising. Their marketing leg must be run by some crackpot on LSD.

  • Josh

    October 3, 2009 at 1:55 PM

    Seriously, does noone think these are some of the best ads on the planet today? The art direction is amazing. Ive always enjoyed ads that don’t treat you like some bumbling moron, and I think most people do too.

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