Obama hates video games, but loves video game advertising.

October 29th, 2008 at 10:00 am · 55 Comments

by Eoco

A new Ad by the Obama Campaign encourages Americans to take election day off and vote instead of playing video games. I wonder if this is the message that appears on all of the Burnout Paradise ads that they’ve been buying up lately?

VIdeo and speculation after the break.

First, here’s the video.

Did you spot it? At about the 6 second mark, a Wii mote is emblazoned upon the screen, with the caption ‘YOU CAN’T MAKE HISTORY FROM HERE’.

Yet why not a DualShock3 or a 360 controller? It’s clear that the Obama campaign sees the Wii mote as the most recognizable symbol for video games, above a 360, PS3, or their corresponding input devices and, to be honest, this only enforces how successful Nintendo have been, or are they woefully ignorant of what a hardcore gamer would be using instead of voting?

This is not the first time that Obama has made reference to video games. He has told American parents on a number of occasions (since as far back as April 2006) that they need to “turn off the television set, and put the video games away.” In fact, Obama goes as far as linking gamers with failure:

I know how hard it will be to alleviate poverty that has built up over centuries, how hard it will be to fix schools, because changing our schools will require not just money, but a change in attitudes. We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children, and that’s going to take some time. (2/20/08 Washington Post)

But he also has ads for his campaign running in the 360 version of Burnout Paradise.

A contradiction? Post your thoughts in the comment box below.

Source: YouTube

Tags: Barack Obama · Obama · opinion · Politics
Categories: Fiction Friday · News · PSP · Wii

Whodini1

Judging by the number of right wing, presumably republican voters (where old enough) on XBL he may be targetting his ads!
entropyAEGIS

One word: Classic
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

Thank god Obama broke his promise to take only Public Financing for his campaign. Not only can he buy the white house, but he’ll have enough money left over for more in-game Ads!

Win-win for everybody.
http://sarcasticgamer.com harpox2

Duh. Everybody knows hardcore gamers only vote by absentee ballot. The only line hardcore gamers stand in are at midnight.
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/author/yousty/ Yousty

@Lono

Well maybe if the GOP hadn’t given Palin a blank check for clothes shopping, they would have some more money for advertising.

I don’t see anything wrong with these ads or his stance. It’s a pretty well known fact that video games are definitely not helping children get smarter and more active and that most parents are using them as a babysitter. My girlfriend and I were taking our nightly walk around the neighborhood the other day and I saw inside a house where there were three kids that all had to be less than 12 years old playing GTA4 while the parents sat in the kitchen talking! I kid you not. 12 year olds playing GTA4 with the parents 15 ft away! I was so pissed I almost knocked on the door to call the parents worthless pieces of trash.

As for why he chose to use a Wii controller, I’m not really sure because last I checked 90% of the people playing the Wii aren’t even old enough to vote. Like you said Eoco, he was probably just going for a generalizing image.

As for me, I’ll be voting early tomorrow for OBAMA so I won’t have to put down my controller on election day
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

Yousty, yeah that $150,000 in wardrobe money would definitely put the Republican campaign over the top…

I love it that you’re so blind that you actually defended the hipocracy with this dumb statement: “It’s a pretty well known fact that video games are definitely not helping children get smarter and more active and that most parents are using them as a babysitter.”

A well known fact? Looks like you’re drinking the kool aid alright… You mind as well turn your xbox in now.
espatross

Well, if you look at the design of the advertisement, the wiimote makes the most sense as well. It isn’t just about recognition, aesthetics play a huge part as well. It is a simple square shape with few colors and mostly white. The advertisement it’s self follows a similar theme. Simply, it is the one that fits with the design of the advertisement more than any other.
RobT

Politicians are nearly all ****s. (insert your favourite word).. I know that’s a generalisation but I believe it.

It’s the same in the UK. I vote, only be because it gives me the right to moan like a bitch when something they do gets on my t* (pretty much everything.
Adam Harley

“Obama hates videogames”???

If you’re basing that on THIS AD, then you could just as easily say Obama hates couches! and office work!

And he doesn’t equate videogames or gamers with failure either. What Obama has been saying all this time is that it’s dangerous to let your children be raised by the MEDIA. He’s never talking about videogames alone, he’s talking about movies and TV too.

I don’t see anything wrong with that ad at all. It’s encouraging people to get up and vote. And Espatross is right about the aesthetic theme.

And Lono, are you seriously defending the $150,000 given to Palin for her wardrobe?
burrj

Yousty its funny that you bring up Palin’s ‘huge’ wardrobe spending because its nothing in comparison to what Obama has spent so far. Its pretty sad that you need record setting spending to boost your vote. You, just like every other liberal out there, love to generalize. Yes, there are some kids playing GTA that shouldn’t. That doesn’t make video games as a whole wrong. But, Obama and the crew would love to blame all of the wrong that our country’s kids do, on video games… not the parents. You even said it yourself, the parents were in the kitchen talking. It not the video games, its the parents. Get your facts straight.

As for me, I’m voting for McCain. I like my freedoms.
Tweep.

Without commenting on the politics at hand (I’m in Oregon, already voted) I would say that less videogames and more education might help in the forums a bit… We’ve all seen the kids that post with their barely comprehensible English or scattered thoughts… Maybe if HoboHunter or NathanHale could read a third as much as they played… well, the world would be a better place.
NoneOfYourBusiness

That video wasnt anti-videogame,
I was directed at the young voter who wouldnt otherwise want to sit fr hours in a line waiting to vote.
YourMOM

The crux of the far leaning left is the position that people are stupid, deserve to be lazy, and can’t do anything by themselves.
This allows the people to think they need Govt to step in as ‘papabear’ and take over the reigns.

It’s a basic principle that has been around for quite sometime. In fact, look up some information on the history of the democratic party – they were the party of the South during the Civil War – pro slavery, anti freedom. ALso look into their baby (no pun intended) Planned Parenthood.

There is an interesting history and goal to Planned parenthood. That goal was/is(?) to weed out the poor & uneducated…
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/author/yousty/ Yousty

Lono, there isn’t enough money in the world that could have won John McCain this election. He’s run the most negative campaign in history and made the worst choice of VP in history. It’s been one bad decision after another and that is why he’ll lose.

Obama didn’t win this election, McCain lost it and money barely had anything do with it.

And what in the world are you talking about with hypocrisy and kool-aid and handing in my xbox? Do you think if Obama wins he’ll become a dictator and ban video games? Do you really think I’m dumb enough to be a sheople and not read all the facts out there and form my own opinions?

I know that you’re an informed parent who monitors which games your kids play and probably limit the amount of time they play, but unfortunately there’s only a handful of parents like that. Most parents just don’t care what their kids are doing as long they’re out of their hair.

So no, I didn’t “drink the kool-aid.” I actually like the message that Obama is trying to convey about not letting kids sit in front of the TV all the time.
YourMOM

Yousty – the election has not been decided. Obama has lost his lead of double digits and is down to a 2-3pt spread. That’s in 1 week. That does NOT bode well…
YourMOM

Yousty – do you like his economic policy? Or the shifting numbers therin? Over the weekend he changed his ‘Everyone making less than 250K’ promise – to ’200K’. Yesterday it came out that it is now 150K and below to NOT be affected. Which is also untrue – he stated he will let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010 – meaning he WILL raise taxes on EVERYONE inadvertently once that takes place. I was pro Obama based on his positive campaigning until I started to pay attention to the substance…
Mike

burrj:

“You, just like every other liberal out there, love to generalize.”

Oh the irony…
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

#1 Obama being negative on video games is NOT based on the Youtube video, but on his own words in MANY different campaign speeches.

#2 Yousty – For you to even reproduce the Democratic party anthem of “McCain has run the most negative campaign in history” doesn’t look good for you… Facts are facts, Obama has spent more money on negative campaign ads than any candidate in history and more advertising money overall than any candidate in history.

#3 If you really believe that Obama and Biden haven’t spent AT LEAST $150,000 on wardrobe, makeup, etc., you’re just fooling yourselves, but then again, you’re an Obama supporter, who am I kidding…
Dave Chung

How is someone supposed to change the world by playing video games all day? How is someone supposed to change the world by watching TV all day? Seems like a fair argument to me.
NoneOfYourBusiness

@YourMOM

Some of your facts are a bit skewed. The politcal parties and fliped around through-out the 1800′s and early 1900′s. The democratic party back then is not the same as todays party.

@Lono

#2 Obama has spent more money on campaign ads, both pro and neg, they are not all about McCain. And honestly, what else do you expect a politcal party to spend thier money on during an election year…Berry Medley? All politcians assume you are stupid and through various rhetoric can manipulate your ideals to control the votes.

#3 True, they probably have but odds are it is split between them and not spent in the last 5 weeks.

#1 Do you honestly believe a president is going to do ANYTHING to videogames. They would be heading straight into a consitutional battle and Barack is the last one to try to pull that.
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

@Noneofyourbusiness: If Obama wins and the Dems win 60 seats in the Senate… Katie bar the door. It’s gonna be chaos. I wouldn’t put it past the democrats to try and push through SOMETHING about video games. It wouldn’t surprise me at all, especially after the pronounced statements against video games by Obama and Clinton… Yet the funny thing is that it has been reported that a large majority of VG publishers have sent more $$ to Obama than McCain…
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html#cnnSTCText
NoneOfYourBusiness

Republicans owned the whole government for a while during the Bush Admin…no one was up in arms about that.

And the problem isnt votes, is the first admendment. At worst they will audit the ESRB or something…or make a fine for selling M games to minors…They cant ban it or remove it without encroching on the 1st amendment and that is one thing all politcians know isn’t going to be tolerated by the general public.

We have have Jack Thompson Wanna-bes in govt but they will go the way of ole’ jackie boy eventually…all hot air.
Jackson

Would love to see a fellow black guy like Obama run the country, but I can’t vote for a Marxist or a socialist, that is some scary stuff. If the US goes Communist/socialist/marxist, us black people will be the first ones round up in mass and executed for the good of the state.
Whodini1

Burrj:

Yeah I agree it is “pretty sad that you need record setting spending to boost your vote”. However I think you’ll find that for quite some time, whichever candidate spends the most on campaigning and advertising wins the race.

Including the last two terms of Bush.
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/author/yousty/ Yousty

Really Lono, REALLY? You’re still generalizing me as a mindless democrat even after saying I’m not?

You’re right facts are facts. and the fact is McCain has run a much more negative campaign than Obama by percentages. Almost 20% more since you’re looking for facts. Yes Obama has spent more money on negative ads but that’s because he’s spent more on ads in general.

The FACT is almost 75% of McCain’s ads have been negative. That right there says a lot about his campaign choices. You could also see it for yourself in all the debates, McCain spent most of his time attacking Obama’s plans instead of promoting his own.

And fyi, I’m actually voting republican for most other state and local offices so I’d really appreciate if you tried to wrap your mind around the fact that I might actually be a well informed voter that actually thinks Obama is a better choice despite usually voting republican.

http://www.conservativesforchange.com/

And you can unbar your door and take off your tinfoil hat. Even if the democrats take over Washington the constitution will prevent them from doing whatever crazy ideas you think they’ll try to pull off regarding video games.

@YourMom
Not really sure where you’re getting your poll numbers from or if MSM media has gotten to you, but almost all election predictions show Obama winning in a landslide. He has a 96% chance of winning to be exact.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/
NoneOfYourBusiness

If any politican was able to raise the kind of money Obama raked in..660mil?….They would take the PR hit for the ad money. McCain or anyone else would have done the same / has done the same. I agree its very hypocritcal and kind jerkish, but hes a politician…what do you expect..
Adam Harley

@Lono: it’s going to be chaos? Gimme a break. In his speeches and in his statements, Obama was never bashing video games specifically – he is mostly concerned with parents using popular media as a replacement for actual parenting.

Maybe there’s something I missed. Can you give a quote to support your position?
NoneOfYourBusiness

Democracy and Communism (or socialism I forget which one is the pure idealogy) are unobtainable in our world. We are not a democracy so much as an autocracy that try to save face. The government operates on its own 364 days a year and 1 day a year we get the chance to squeek out an opinion.

The USSR is a poor example of communism as it had severe tyrannical overtones. Infact, more often then not, when people describe a utopia, its more or less a fusion of communism and democratic ideals….so this stigma that all things communist are bad is a terrible issue and simply not true. Just have to avoid the whole corruption thing of the beauracracy…(so I cant spell, sue me)
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

The quote’s in the article Harley…. scroll up a bit and take a look…
http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/author/yousty/ Yousty

“We’re going to have to parent better, and turn off the television set, and put the video games away, and instill a sense of excellence in our children.”

Please explain to me how you get your “He’s going to ban video games” mentality out of the above quote, because to me it sounds like a man pointing out the exact reasons behind why the children in this country have fallen extremely far behind other countries in their level of education. He’s not saying that TV and video games are completely to blame for the kids in this country being so stupid, but they sure as heck don’t help.
Adam Harley

If that’s all you’re referring to, then maybe you’re interpreting the quote too negatively.

He doesn’t say video games are bad, or that he doesn’t like them, the main message is “We’re going to have to change our attitudes. We’re going to have to parent better” – removing TV and video games from the parenting equation is a good step in that direction.

I completely agree with it. We have to change the attitude of all the parents that believe popular media is an appropriate parenting tool.

At least that’s how I’m reading it. With that in mind, can you seriously still see the message “Obama hates videogames” in that quote?
Adam Harley

@Yousty: Exactly.
Jackson

@NoneOfYourBusiness

Your talking about theory, yes in theory or on paper communism and socialism seem OK, but in real life they never work and only lead to oppression and depression.

In fact on paper a monarchy is actually the most efficiant form of government, but once again due to human nature they never work.

I can’t think of a single good people friendly communist country in the history of man kind.
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

@ Harley and Yousty: At no time did I ever write that Obama would ban video games. But we do now know that not only is Obama a liar ( http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/28/campbell.brown.obama/index.html#cnnSTCText ) BUT he’s also a hypocrite.

I think its so special that he can buy the election and no one cares. Why doesn’t Obama spread some of that 600million in campaign money around, then we wouldn’t need to increase taxes… Wait a second… That makes to much sense to do.
http://www.insurgence-epn.com Destyn

Disclaimer: I didn’t read anything above this point and so my comment could be a duplicate.

The reason Obama used a Wiimote had everything to do with identification of the video game tool de jour. If he had shown a 360 pad I could pretty much bet at least 50% of American adults wouldn’t know if it belonged to a 360 or PS3 (or a PC) let alone care. The Wiimote on the other hand is the one far more likely to have made it into a parent’s hand – and the advertising was aimed squarely at adults *not* young adult voters; it was a way of mildly chiding society for being lazy – many adults would have seen it and though “yes, those damn kids should put down those video games and vote. I’ll go and do it now”.

Or at least, that’s the advertising theory.

And no I don’t think it’s a contradiction to advertise in a game – that’s just another billboard.
NoneOfYourBusiness

@Jackson

Yes I understand that, but both democracy and commnunsim only work on paper, they are fairly equal in terms of fallibilty. Both are idealistc that you work towards, niether are inherently evil. And the key reason communism usually fails is Communists try to run a captialist society…and the leaders get a lil power hungry in the process.

@Lono

Changing the subject eh…>_> I see what you did there.
Adam Harley

@Lono: Weren’t we talking about his position on video games…?
http://www.sarcasticgamer.com Lono

Hey everybody, I didn’t change the subject, THE SUBJECT of the article was whether Obama was contradicting himself by railing against video games on the one hand and advertising in them on the other.

I said he was and is a hypocrite. I just added all that other stuff to spice the thread up a bit.
Adam Harley

And all we’re saying is that Obama doesn’t even hate video games, so the contradiciton is non-existant.

The problem is, Lono, it seems like you’re ignoring our arguments, and you’re “supporting” your point of view with irrelevant information.
NoneOfYourBusiness

All politicians are hypocrites, the trick is finding what they are being hypocritical about before the proverbial @#$! hits the the fan. If thats Obama’s hypocrisy that we need to worry about, we arent too bad off.

Also, we just got off jack thompson, give gamers a rest before we attack a new adversary. Probably hilary.
Bill

I for one can’t wait until the enlightened Obama is president and can make all our problems go away. Then he and Yousty and other like minded people can get together and take care of America’s children (their parent’s obviously don’t have a clue). With the new generation of children being correctly raised by the state we can finally address the main reason people are not successful & healthy, video games.

Then our saviors can finally label video-game addiction as a disease with the CDC and we can finally limit consumption of this dangerous and addictive technology that has ruined the lives of so many non-democrats.

Like smokers or gun owners, they will be resistant at first and hem and haw about “liberty” and “freedom” and other naive and outdated concepts. But by small steps like enacting laws enforcing “gaming” and “no-gaming” zones, ensuring only 21 years olds can buy a game, and embarking on a multi-million dollar marketing campaigns we can eradicate this horrible, horrible menace that is video games…

Preach on Yousty! Preach ON!!!!!
NoneOfYourBusiness

@Bill

You almost sound like you believe what you say…..O_O
Bill

Ok I give, I didn’t really write that.. I just copied it from something I heard on National Public Radio…
Bono Hit My Car

@Lono: (with all due respect sir) If we want to talk about hypocrisy, the John McCain from 2000 who I dearly loved and agreed with his views on campaign finance reform is now a lap dog for the Republican party. I completely respect your opinion sir, we always should be constantly question our leaders and our laws. But I believe that the hypocrisy relies with both candidates. No matter how bad we want a president to make our lives better, it will never happen. The power will always been in the hands of your fellow man and woman to help one another. A bunch of community voices and actions have a lot more power than any government or corporation, this site has proven that already.

Just like everything else that has been taken out of this presidential race, this has been taking out of context. The point the Senator from IL was making, was to make sure that we are not allowing our children to become media drones for the rest of their lives. Start guiding your children to become more informed and realize that there is something bigger than playing Burnout. I see nothing wrong with trying to get the attention of gamers to remind them to vote on Nov. 4th.

@Everyone: NO MATTER WHAT YOUR STANCE IS… F**KING VOTE, WETHER IT BE MCCAIN, OBAMA OR MICKEY MOUSE…. VOTE!!!!!
http://myspace.com/dontvoteforbrooks sogard

…i voted for McCain.
I hate socialism
Bono Hit My Car

@Sogard :

Yep progressive tax and socialism is samething, I forgot. So what is McCain’s plan called then? Here single person 0 dependent, here is $2500, here married couple with dependents, here is $5000.

You hate socialism and we just had a $700 billion dollar govt bailout of our economic and housing problem. But that’s no socialism, that’s capitalism at its best ….. And we don’t need to make sure that our media isn’t influencing people with bulls*it? right….
http://veryawesomestuff.blogspot.com/ Jason Bourne223

You’ve got to be kidding me! This is almost (but not quite) unbelievable. I should have expected this from Obama.
Matt

Well yeah…we should put down our video games more often, it should be a hobby not a life style. Parents do need to step in and take control there is no reason why they should let kids play video games instead of doing homework. And in my opinion (which i’m sure no one but me cares about) Obama isn’t saying video games in general cause failure, but we all know that a lack of balance between what you do for fun and what you need to do can lead to failure. It’s all about personal choice and doing whats best for you, your children, and our future.
Sab187

I have read all of the posts on this sight and I have issues with some. First before I start I want to correct the Leftist “Yousty”. I know, you being a democrat don’t need to be burdened down by facts, but I’ll try to get some through to you anyway.
1st Palin will never be the worst VP choice ever. That would be a toss up between Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and Biden. (Has he been sober at all this entire campaign?)

2nd Palin never accepted any of the $150,000 worth of clothes that the RNC (Republican National Committee) bought for her. They were going to be sold for charity anyway.

2nd 1/2. Hilary Clinton has spent $6,000 dollars on each of her butt ugly pantsuits. (Just Say’n)

3rd McCain has spent 35-50 million on negative ads. Obama has spent nearly 200 million. (Who has run the most negative campaign ever?)

That was fun. Ok…to video games. Parents are to blame for kids not getting up and doing their homework or playing sports or many other things. Schools and State policies are to blame for a lot of the Educational lapses that have occurred, that does not mean I want it federalized as Obama wants. I mean we all know how well the government runs things. Look at how well the DMV and Amtrak work.

The “lefties” have always disliked video games. Blaming everything from teen violence to “Global Warming” (oh wait its not called that anymore…what is it now????) Oh yeah, Global Climate Change. They were a little wrong about that one too. I have been praying for Global warming for the last couple months now, I’m frik’n freezing.

Back to Video Games. I do find it rather funny that the “lefties” are against people playing video games, but yet still advertise in them. Isn’t that like riding two horses? Eventually along comes a tree. But everyone here knows “lefties” are good at riding two horses. I voted for it, before I voted against it, or vice-versa. I’m for supporting the troop, but giving them the support and aid they need…nope.

In closing…yes it a contradiction, but no it’s not unexpected.
Later ya’ll Peace
McCain/Palin ’08
Which would you rather have? An Experienced President and a Inexperienced Hottie or and Inexperienced President and a Drunk Biden. Your Choice

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Obama hates video games, but loves video game advertising.

October 29th, 2008 at 10:00 am · 55 Comments

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