Advertising in the middle of a video game isn’t the dumbest idea anyone has ever had. Cheese-less cheeseburgers for vegans took that crown. Still - it’s pretty far up on the disaster list.

Alex St John, CEO of WildTangent (former spyware-spewing jerks), knows a thing or two about making money from video games. He quadrupled his profits last year by switching to a new model, which involves users watching a video advertisement in order to earn playtime credits. Check out what he said about his own in-game advertisements and a bunch of other stupid quotes from clueless advertisers, after the jump.

Alex St John, CEO of WildTangent said,

“I came to the opinion that a lot of the in-game and some of these variations you’ve heard of out there - they’re a lot of work, they take too much explanation, they actually don’t make sense,” St John said. “Something as very simple as selling a game on a per session basis, and playing a pre-load video, works fantastically well for any kind of game.“

Gamers don’t respond well to being interrupted in the middle of a game, because they don’t respond, period. It’s one thing when a potential customer is vegging out in front of the TV, watching 90s sitcom reruns. No distractions mean plenty of time to sit and absorb whatever information the boob toob displays.

In the middle of a virtual war zone, or even just playing some online Parcheesi with Gram-Gram, this ad model cannot possibly be effective. Playing a game involves concentration, engagement, and sometimes social aspects. Who has time to check out Old Spice’s web page during a Zerg rush? Who notices the Skippy Peanut Butter banner ad, even with blood and gore splattered on its virtual billboard?

Let’s just resort to blatant product placement.

Chiquita Bananas in PacMan, anyone?

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