10 Most Embarrassing Product Placements In Video Games
7. EA Games Gets Political
As previously mentioned, advertising in video games is okay if it’s done right and if it fits. Not just on sporting kits but also on the billboards you might fly by in racing games. It’s an established part of our real world that needs to be reflected in any decent digital representation of it.
However, President Obama’s face gawking at you is not exactly subtle.
As part of his attempts to gain and retain political office, Barack Obama and his team struck a deal with Electronic Arts to include advertising for his campaigns in their games. It was a clear attempt to reach a demographic that got their entertainment from video games rather than TV. Some of the games in question included Madden and Burnout Paradise.
Gamers, largely, weren’t particularly happy with this. Regardless of one’s viewpoint politically, it can be generally agreed that it was a gaudy move. Whilst its completely fine for some games to have a political message in their story, seeing the real life faces of smiling politicians that were campaigning for office was a hell of a way to detract from a medium that often serves as a distraction from the stresses of the real world.
Then again, Obama won both of his presidential campaigns so maybe it did connect with otherwise ambivalent EA players.