I wanted to address a lot of things in the comments of the latest article about it and I thought it was easier to do so in a blog.
First off, I wasn't offended by it, but I was bothered by it. To me it showed a complete disregard and disrespect to a certain demographic. Regardless if they thought about the ad or not, it shows that they didn't care about the people who it would bother or offend.
I know people complain a lot about stupid shit and ads, but I honestly think this was a bit much. There was a joke there, but it was poorly done and only comes off that it was done that way just to get the 'publicity' it's getting. They used a word that is a derogatory word towards a group of people, regardless of how some people use it, in the US it's commonly used as a derogatory term towards homosexuals. When people generally use the word, it's used as an insult no matter what meaning you feel like giving it on any given day.
If there wasn't anything wrong with the video, they wouldn't of pulled it. They're still going to make the money they make off the game regardless. It boggles my mind in a sense as well considering how activision has been lately anyway. They haven't actually shown that they generally give a shit about the people who buy their games.
I don't think anyone is being a 'baby' about it or being too 'PC' about the situation at all. Like I said, them pulling the ad shows how wrong they knew they were. People don't use the word as a term of endearment and personally I think the other definition such as it meaning 'stupid' is just a cop out, because the word stupid is there for you to use already, what made people adapt to using 'fag' and 'gay' as stupid?
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The point was many immature gamers call people "fags" online. They were satirizing them.
SATIRE IS DEAD IN FAVOR OF SERIOUSNESS AND NEVER MAKING FUN OF ANY SELECT GROUP.
Infinity Ward was satirizing everyone who throws random grenades. Said people would probably call anyone that said they were being dicks "fags."
It seems like IW has been garnering a lot of controversy lately. I guess that's a good thing.
This is just a guess, but Activision/IW is responding to all the calls for boycotts with a "hey look, we're edgy" campaign.
Is it possible that the Terrorist Airport footage was a controlled leak by Activision? Certainly.
Honestly, I'm a little disturbed by how many people here think "Oh it's not so bad. Stop being so PC.". I'll say it again: If the acronym spelled out "N.I.G.G.E.R.S.", would you all be so callous about this? Because it's basically the same thing. Get some perspective people.
That's parody for you. While I'm against the N word in general, if that word was more popular than the F word for describing "grenade douchebags", then it would serve it's purpose.
A parody isn't meant to be offensive TO THE GROUP IN QUESTION. It's supposed to be offensive pertaining to the groups who USE the derogatory word. Heaven forbid you people watch Family Guy or South Park.
So if "niggas" was used more than "fags" to describe grenade douchebags it would be ok to use it? I don't buy that. The problem with the use here is that it doesn't come across as satire, it just comes across as IW saying "Yeah that's a word our community uses a lot. Let's use it too!". I realize that's not the case but 90% of the people who watch it are thinking "Lololol, yea..FAGS!". If you're going to use it as satire at least use it well.
Also, I love Family Guy & South Park.
I respect your opinion, as we can't agree on whether or not it was intended, there's no real answer.
I'd be interested in asking Infinity Ward directly, but my guess is they'd say "OF COURSE IT WAS...."
As far as the N word goes, what did you think about the Michael Richards South Park episode? They used the word generously, but it was a parody of Michael's outburst.
No, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and believing them on the satire explanation. Mostly because I doubt a company as big as that would let that fly any other way.
As for the Michael Richards South Park episode, I didn't have a problem with it (or the use of "fag" in other episodes) because it's obviously satire. My problem with the MW2 ad is that it's NOT obviously satire. Not even close. It just makes them look like they're ok with the community using it.
That's the thing, that video was clearly aimed at the 13-year-old XBL kiddies, who legally aren't allowed to play the game due to the age restriction.
In a way, it's clever. But at the same time it WAS appealing to an undesirable audience.
What it seemed like to me, is that Infinity Ward was making fun of the people who bitch about random grenades, and call the random grenadiers FAGS.
Such jokes should not be shown to the public, as a huge amount of people don't get them. I see your point, it was handeled poorly. They should have dumbed it down to the level of Jim Sterling's satire. Nigh everyone understands the satire and doesn't take it seriously.
TONGUE IN CHEEK JOKE OFFENSIVE!! I INSULTED, ACTUALLY.
In no way an insult to Jim's work.