Perhaps the worst culprits are the ones that go beyond a joke. Promoter Making Waves came up with an idea for a viral marketing campaign for Vivendi's espionage game Cold Winter where an email was sent out, looking like a genuine call for a hostage to be freed. The accompanying videos showed a man being tortured with a knife.
Vivendi said the e-mail was part of a series and that the final e-mail explained that the mailings were advertising a computer game. They also said that the website mentioned in the mailing was designed to inspire debate as to whether or not the campaign to "Free Sterling" was genuine and that they had included aBritish Board of Film Classification18+ logo on the website to show that the campaign was an advertisement.
Apparently,once the game had been released, the website was amended to make clear that the e-mail campaign was a promotion for the computer game. Now, we've searched and searched for the video to no avail - but we must say, it sounds a bit sinister to us. Kinda likecertainreality TV shows that shock people horribly and then tells them they're on TV - while their heart implodes.
The ASA thought so too (although obviously in different words) and the complaints were upheld.
Above: Cold Winter. Not even a controversial advertising campaign could save it from total obscurity
Of course, we've saved the best for last. It's a shame the world wasn't ready for this Xbox ad... but it's still great. Enjoy.
