10 Outrageous Video Game Adverts That Caused Major Controversy

6. Dead Island: Riptide Ad "Glorifies Suicide"

A recent advert for Dead Island: Riptide was pulled by Australia's Advertising Standards Board due to its depictions of suicide; it featured a couple trapped inside some wreckage as zombies clamber to eat them, so they decide to blow themselves up; and this is followed by the Dead Island logo, adorned with a zombie hanging from a tree by its neck. One complaint stated, "I think that the ad is too graphic in terms of its depiction of suicide, particularly the final image of the man hanging from a tree...I think that this could be very traumatic for people who have experienced the suicide of a family member by hanging (or any other means)." Though All Interactive Games, who advertised the game, maintained that the advert was "contextually relevant", the complaints were upheld, noting that depicting such themes was not appropriate for a television advert of any kind. While I can't really blame the ASB for pulling it, wouldn't it have made sense to run this one as an online-only ad, unless the controversial publicity was their end-game all along? Ah, I see...