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Sony pussies out over Nigeria complaints photo

The other day we ran a story about Nigeria's ludicrous decision to be offended by a joke about the infamous "Nigerian Letter" scam in Sony's latest PS3 commercials. While most reasonable people would expect Sony to ignore such a stupid and needless complaint, it's transpired that Sony has lost its balls and apologized to the country for its perfectly acceptable joke. Not only that, the line has been cut from the advert.

"It has come to our attention that a recent TV advertisement for PlayStation may have offended some members of the Nigerian community," snivels Sony. "We never intended to create a situation that would upset anyone, and we have taken action to immediately remove the advertisement from the air. We apologize to anyone this may have offended."

The line has been changed. It originally stated, "You can't believe everything you read on the Internet. Otherwise, I'd be a Nigerian millionaire by now." It now says, "You can't believe everything you read on the internet. That's how World War I got started."

So, when German officials gets upset over Sony making claims about World War I, will it then issue another groveling apology and cater to the reactionary whims of a handful of morons? I don't get how companies can be bare-faced assholes to their own customers, but as soon as someone from another culture gets offended by a joke, they bend over backwards to please them. Utterly pathetic. 

Sony should have told these arseholes where to get off. Just goes to show how much power the fear of looking slightly racist has over the average white rich man.


Continue reading: More Utterly pathetic stories





95 comments | showing # 1 to 50
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wadawoodo's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 08:47
wadawoodo
Reading Sony's response in a crying voice is very amusing.
ran24's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 08:48
ran24
lol, when you compare the new line to the old one, the new one is more offensive. Not that either bothers me, but trivializing a war is much worse than making fun of, uh, nigerian millionaires? I really don't understand how the Nigerians could be offended. Pussies.
Chuzzle's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 08:50
Chuzzle
"I don't get how companies can be bare-faced assholes to their own customers, but as soon as someone from another culture gets offended by a joke, they bend over backwards to please them."

couldn't agree more.
mo0man's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 08:51
mo0man
Wat? World War I?
prolifikstudio's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 08:53
prolifikstudio
If you think thats lame you should see their new foreign policy
Sentry's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 08:58
Sentry
Couldn't they just rewrite the line to be funny? Have they tried that yet?
Br0th3rGr1mm's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:00
Br0th3rGr1mm
Yeah...the term 'Pussy' pretty much nails it.
atastysammich's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:02
atastysammich
That's a pretty stupid new line, but this sort of thing's nothing new. Remember when those self-righteous chucklefucks at PETA bullied SEGA into pulling that Samba de Amigo ad because it had a trained monkey in it? Man, I don't envy whoever works in gaming marketing today, having to make sure everything's 108% politically correct.

Next thing you know, game commercials will be nothing but tools grinning ear-to-ear on or near a couch, making widely exaggerated motions with their controllers, with maybe three seconds of game footage if you're lucky.
Xzyliac's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:03
Xzyliac
Are you for fucking serious with this shit? Nigeria needs to fucking calm down.

I'm not one to get upset easily but dammit this is just sad. I seriously never even caught that part until now.
Sexualchocolate's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:08
Sexualchocolate
They should have just removed the word "nigerian" - Job done.

Treat's it's customers like assholes? - Uh this isn't Microsoft you're talking about you know. Sony treat us good, sure a little bit of a pricing issue here in the UK - They don't get currency conversion - But apart from that they treat us REAL nice.

I've enjoyed a free out of warantee repair on my PS3, free online, great service, and an extremely valuable console which when I bought it was sold at a loss! So no, they don't treat their customers like assholes, nor do they treat Nigerian's like assholes, unless they're asking for their bank details!


I didn't even need to scroll up to see which Lardarse-Gamesmaster-lookalike wrote this.... Up to your usual tricks mr Sterling.
Bioautographical's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:09
Bioautographical
Hey, if scamming was a huge portion of MY economy, I'd want as little negative attention called to it as possible myself.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:11
Jim Sterling
Sexualchocolate: Sony and Microsoft both treat their customers like shit. Nearly all companies do, and that was the point I was making. Seriously, maybe you should stop being a hypersensitive bitch and jumping to the defense of a corporation that doesn't even know you exist, and wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire.
ndschroede23's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:17
ndschroede23
Hell, just get Sexualchocolate to write their commercials, his eternal fellating of the Sony line will probably sell a few products. If the consumer isn't turned off by the OK NOW I'M KIND OF CREEPED OUT effect.
Trebz's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:22
Trebz
I saw the commercial again, shortly after Jim's last article on this and I noticed that they switched the lines.

It's a bit funny, considering Nigeria had nothing to do with the "Nigerian Letter."
wastedyears's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:28
wastedyears
Don't pay attention to Jim and his daily 'Sony did something terrible and I am so pissed off!!!' bullshit. Its his hobby.
Sanious's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:34
Sanious
It's not bullshit? This is the reason people complain, because companies will bow down to it. And leave it to Sony to give in.

It was such a stupid whiny complaint, a joke that went over their heads. It's tiring to see these apologies for the stupidest things when the only thing wrong with the comment were the people complaining about it. Grow a set of balls and don't bow down to this whiny nonsense.
Kris S's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:41
Kris S
@sexchoch
I didn't need to look up to see what retarded fuck-wit was kissing corporation ass again. This what you're gonna teach your kids? Ignore the real world, bury ywr head in the sand, pull yer kecks down and let a company ass fuck you because you like one of their thousands of products. Twat.
Kaspar's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:43
Kaspar
This just in:

Nigeria is in possession of a pussification ray.
Doomsday Forte's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:45
Doomsday Forte
The reason it was funny was because it was true. Who hasn't gotten a letter from "I'M A NIGERIAN PRINCE AND I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU MY MILLIONS OF FORTUNE!"?

Isn't there some anti-war group that could counterattack for this? Making light of the first World War, that's a smart move.
Jimeee's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 09:47
Jimeee
Lol @ "Lardarse-Gamesmaster".
agentgray's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:02
agentgray
Should this be a surprise from Sony?

LittleBigPlanet
BruceWang's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:02
BruceWang
well, obviously looking slightly racist is something you're not afraid of cause its pretty clear to everyone you are a racist little sh!td!ck. oh poor discriminated against rich white men boohoo. How does this have anything to do with rich white men anyway?bc sony has a white ceo? quit projecting you fat entitled racist sh!t. They apologized because their profits were at risk is that really that hard to understand? One person vs millions? Really? Whining about apologizing over whining. nice job douche. why don't you put down the double bacon mayonaise sandwiches and write a real fuck!n article you double chinned sh!t breath m0therfu(ker. How much bacon wrapped bacon is microsoft bribing you with? Or do you bend over backwards for them bc their name describes your dick so perfectly. get ass cancer and die slow b!tch.
BlaspheMerius's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:06
BlaspheMerius
I love Hetare. LOL
Sexualchocolate's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:13
Sexualchocolate
Like i say, in my experience, whether they give a shit about me personally or not Sony have treated me really well ever since I bought my PS1. Sure, they wouldn't piss on me if I was on fire, I wouldn't expect that from a major global company, but they do make me happy, keep me sweet and support any Sony product i buy to my full expectations.

I assume they treat all of their customers the same?

I mean, I know of nothing specific that they've done to screw over their customers, even the way the PS3 plays almost any media file, or uses any laptop HDD, or any blue-tooth headset - all areas where they "could" have screwed their customers into buying more perhipherals from them - wink wink. - but chose not to.

Or perhaps it's because they don't fork out for exclusive DLC or something, is that screwing over their customers? Or is that a result of not screwing over their customers and not being able to spend so much on such petty things?

Perhaps they release false "exclusives" that are really just timed exclusives that are later ported to competing consoles, with added features, or is that just Microshaft?

Is it something to with them providing everything you need with their latest console despite putting off a number of consumers with the price when they could have easily supplied a barebones console and wallet raped us for the rest of the required parts?

Perhaps it's the way they update firmware so often, the bastards! Or how they waited until their console was FINISHED before releasing it - mother fuckers! Or maybe because they don't charge me to connect and game through the internet connection that i already pay for, how dare they!

Nope, still struggling with how Sony treat us like assholes.....

Even this post is about them doing all they can to keep everyone happy while trying to turn a profit (even the fucking Nigerians!) and mr I-love-Killzone2-and-my-PS3-but-hate-Sony just couldn't resist spinning it into them being pussies.

(I have absolutely no reason to "suck Sony's cock" so much, I'm literally putting over my opinion of Sony based on how my dealings with them have worked - This place is a throbbing, adolescent, hive of 360fanboys, you need your Sexualchocolate's to even things out around here.)
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:22
Jim Sterling
"well, obviously looking slightly racist is something you're not afraid of cause its pretty clear to everyone you are a racist little sh!td!ck. oh poor discriminated against rich white men boohoo. How does this have anything to do with rich white men anyway?bc sony has a white ceo? quit projecting you fat entitled racist sh!t. They apologized because their profits were at risk is that really that hard to understand? One person vs millions? Really? Whining about apologizing over whining. nice job douche. why don't you put down the double bacon mayonaise sandwiches and write a real fuck!n article you double chinned sh!t breath m0therfu(ker. How much bacon wrapped bacon is microsoft bribing you with? Or do you bend over backwards for them bc their name describes your dick so perfectly. get ass cancer and die slow b!tch."

Hmm ... well I was actually criticizing rich white men in the article for being pussies, but whatever. I really hope you got all that dangerous rage out of your system before you hit your girlfriend or something. I mean, if you've found a woman retarded enough to stand being around someone with as many emotional problems as you seem to have.
king kong five's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:22
king kong five
@Bioautographical

Uhhh...
PenKaizen's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:41
PenKaizen
I don't agree that Sony apologizing makes them pussies. It's not our job to decide who should be offended by what and who shouldn't, people just are offended and have a right to complain. Sony acknowledged they pissed off some people so they apologized.

I still love you though Sterling.
Bioautographical's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:43
Bioautographical
We might not decide who becomes offended, but we can certainly make loads of fun of them.
Electrium's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:44
Electrium
Wow, you can always trust Sexualchocolate to take something that has nothing to do with those pre-teen console wars, and try and turn it into that. Honestly, I think you should considering venting out your Microsoft hate on some Sony forums or something, where people might actually agree with you. Because most people on Dtoid respect both systems and can get by having intelligent discussions about things other than "MY CONSOLE IS BETTER THAN URS!!!!" (inb4-I-get-called-a-MS-fanboy).

@ Article - Wow, that joke wasn't even slightly offensive. It was one of the few redeeming qualities of that commercial, too. First, Nintendo gets away with making fun of gamres, now Sony does. How about musicians start making fun of people who listen to the radio? They'll love that.
Cataract's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:45
Cataract
Everyone knows I love to get a good chance to jump on someone and yell at them when they fuck up, but maybe I'm just not seeing it today. I think a lot of people in these comments need to go, take a deep breath, look at themselves in the mirror, and think about something thats calmly composed and inflammatory to say. If they can't, well, then they should just be quiet.

But either way, I;ve gotten a great amount of enjoyment from these ludicrous comments of people who like to act like they're defending some downtrodden minority. The self-righteousness mixed with stupidity. Two great tastes that taste great together!
Dwilliams86's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:50
Dwilliams86
I like how Jim CLEARLY mentions that BOTH companies treat their customers like shit.But you had to get a Super Fanboys like Sexualchocolate talking about how great the ps3 is compared to 360. Cool story Bro, but the point is Sony totally bitched out. Not saying Mircosoft would'nt have done the same thing, but they usually use common sense in their marketing campaigns...
Sexualchocolate's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:52
Sexualchocolate
Wow. BruceWang. Just Wow.

I take my hat off to you sir, now THAT is a proper RAGE. To anyone that thinks I was ranting and raging, check BW's shit out - Top class raging sir!

Yall have yourselves a good weekend.

Still laughing at "bacon wraped in bacon bribes" - it's funny cuz from the look of Jim and the general slant on his articles, it could well be true!

In the wise words of another of Jim's lookalikes, "Screw you guys, i'm going home."
Qraze's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:52
Qraze
an outrage of those too poor to even play,
except the prince who's still getting paid.
phony email scams are very real and hard,
now give me the number to your credit card.
lordhellion's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:55
lordhellion
Shoul've changed the line to "You can't believe everything you reads on the internet. Otherwise Jim Sterling would be a racist bacon-sandwich eating Microsoft whore by now."
Thurber's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:56
Thurber
"...some members of the Nigerian community,"

Ummm, so... is it now politically incorrect to say "Nigerians"?
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 10:57
Jim Sterling
I'd have people like Bruce Wang and Sexualchocolate banned, but I'm not sure they understand that they're actually failing to upset me, and instead helping me make money.
Gene Eric's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:07
Gene Eric
^____^
topcatyo's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:08
topcatyo
That's pretty lame of Sony.

I imagine, though, that they caved in so quickly was because, as mentioned in the article, they didn't want to look slightly racist. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but perhaps they considered that, with those Sony PSP ads that caused a huge stir about racism, they didn't want to take their chances again.
Gene Eric's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:11
Gene Eric
Anyway, Sony shouldn't have buckled. I mean, c'mon its Nigeria, who really cares? What significant thing have they ever done for the world, save for the scams?
^___^
Sentry's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:12
Sentry
Jim, seriously, why do you even engage these guys in the first place?
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:14
Jim Sterling
"Jim, seriously, why do you even engage these guys in the first place?"

Everyone needs to be loved.
Gene Eric's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:34
Gene Eric
I don't get the Sterling hate. I mean, sure he slagged off the PS3 time and again but everyone has an opinion (regardless how wrong it is)
IMO, Jim has done a sterling job here. ^__^
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:44
Jim Sterling
"I just wish MS was called a pussy when they bitched out during the "air gun" ad. But, it is Sony so tis better to shit on them than the supplier of free dev kits and Live accounts to media and blogs."

I love how you talk as if I've never said about bad about Microsoft, when I've said equally harsh things and have said plenty of nice things about Sony, especially this week. You really do have your head up your arse when it comes to Sony, don't you? Please can the victim complex stuff, because it makes you look pathetic.
DreRox's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:47
DreRox
The only thing stupid about this article is Jim's use of the word "racism"...

I don't know how it is in the UK, but when someone makes fun of Canadians, we don't usually call it racist... Or was I not alerted that Canadian is now a race?

I haven't read deeply into this, but I don't even think Nigerians called it racist. I think that term is just a hot button for views and argument, lately. Especially when used so obviously incorrectly, as is the case here. Thanks, Jim.
Rifter01's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:57
Rifter01
Nigeria.. The new troll to beat up on the game companies.. Since 2009.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 11:58
Jim Sterling
DreRox:

You obviously did not read the article correctly. I never said Nigerians called it racist. I mentioned how people are afraid to look racist. Please read the post before criticizing, please.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 12:06
Jim Sterling
"No victim stuff, just pointing out your hypocrisy."

How is it hypocrisy? I've already explained I give MS a harsh time as much as Sony. You're the hypocrite for only thinking it's wrong when it's about Sony.

"Nice duck and dodge on the dev kit /live account. you sure don't PAY for Partner Net."

We didn't pay for the PS3 Slim either, genius.
Jim Sterling's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 12:13
Jim Sterling
You're not even making sense. I guess that what happens when you can't win a single argument you start.
blehman's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 12:13
blehman
rabble rabble rabble spam spam spam

Oh, hai Jim. Good crowd today?
Rifter01's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/11/2009 12:20
Rifter01
I guess Sony had no choice other than to buckle under..

After all, they'd likely get twice the spam from them if they didn't.

..Err, scratch that, now they took the bait, and now they'll get 3X as much u.u
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