A poster for the PlayStation Move’s The Fight: Lights Out, depicting a guy in a headlock about to get a fist to the face (or at least a rough noogie), has been banned as offensive and irresponsible in the U.K.
The motion-enabled brawler can’t use this to advertise itself anymore, so it’s back to the drawing board. The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority made the ruling after receiving eight complaints about the poster – two of which said it incited racial violence because the character being punched is black.
I’ve stared at that for five solid minutes and can’t see how the victim is, in any way, overtly of African descent. The ASA didn’t buy the claim either. Its condemnation didn’t support the racism complaint, but the general promotion of anti-social behaviour was enough to get it thumbed. And given what we’re seeing here, it’s still a bit hypersensitive.
Offensive PlayStation Move Ad Banned By ASA [Brand Republic via Joystiq]
Michael Pannunzio
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 12:41 PMIf the colours of the people fighting are switched, it will be racist by saying it stereotypes Africans as violent. As such you can’t have 2 Africans, so the only safe option is having 2 Caucasians, which doesn’t promote racial diversity.
Justin
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 10:52 PMThe U.K. seems to be just generally hypersensitive to anything that might offend anyone, anywhere..ever. It seems they are constantly banning things.
Rainbow
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 12:32 AMWould it be less offensive if it was a black guy punching a white guy?
RichardH
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 2:05 PMOf course it should be banned. Wil Wheaton should never be allowed to beat anyone up.
Andrew | S.E.C. Group
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 4:12 PMSo it’s racism issue. At first view, I thought it was due to violence. lol