Microsoft causes kids to berate parents: Murders @ 11

[Regulus Tera]

So the topic title might be slightly misleading right now, but if this stupid campaign gets traction, it'll be real in the next few weeks. I picked this up at my local EBGames.

Microsoft has started targeting some ads towards parents for getting a 360 for their children, but really, if my parents did or said any of this to me, I'd probably lose all respect I may have ever had for them... ever.

Exhibit A)

http://www.hung0v3r.com/drevil/xboxstreetcred.jpg

This is a real pamphlet from the microsoft rep (apparently dropped off yesterday), and is completely serious, there's no hint of it being a joke or anything of the sort.

Exhibit B) http://www.parentalstreetcred.com

This is the companion website to the pamphlet, equally as stupid and ridiculous. If you click on "read the parental street cred glossary", there are even more gems similar to that above. If you type in "NSFP" into the "secret code" box, there's a whole other section to the site "for kids", where such awesome lines like: "And you'll be PWNING some EMO in stockholm in no time".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa68vhZ2f1E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB5xjZ0CvgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvU--fjpfo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNXs82bm6ek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RxUhq3KD1U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcD0aX9QNaE

These are even worse than the PSP ads. D=

[Lady Cygnet]

I now have another reason why I do not want a 360...ever. Thank you, Microsoft!

[POS Industries]

This is a real pamphlet from the microsoft rep (apparently dropped off yesterday), and is completely serious, there's no hint of it being a joke or anything of the sort.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v294/krylo/facepalm.jpg

Dude, the entire thing is one giant hint.

[DFM]

I'd say it's as bad as I like the big screen, so fresh and clean.

But it's bad in a different way.

Edit: Beaten.

[Lady Cygnet]

Dude, the entire thing is one giant hint.

Yeah, but I hate Microsoft anyway...but it did remind me of a funny Family Matters episode.

Also, does anyone actually seriously say any of this stuff?

[R|Я]

I say crack a lackin to my sister, mostly (entirely) to piss her off.

[Regulus Tera]

Dude, the entire thing is one giant hint.

Dude, I'm copy and pasting all of this from other forums. Do you think I got the time to carefully edit all this shit?

I'm a lazy arse motherfucker.

[TDK]

...

Despite the horrid urge this gives me to burn the world, I can't help but wonder just what this has to do with the 360...

"And you'll be PWNING some EMO in stockholm in no time"

...

No words.

[Bells]

..............oh, dear god...c'mon!


What demographic is microsoft aiming? The 90's Stereotypical black male? Geez!

What the fuck is this shit? Did they hire the people who did Sony's Crying baby ads? Just... what the fuck!?

[Krylo]

Wow. You guys are like really really really bad at spotting jokes.

Like... really.

They're aiming for the demographic of people who think talking like that is stupid.

I mean, common, "I just beat my son in a game of viva pinata, word!"

It screams satire.

Jonathon Swift is spinning in his grave, and it's all your fault.

[Bells]

No Krylo... the problem wouldnt be the bad taste of the joke or the stupid taste of it being real...

it's just how bad of an Ad campaing it is. They aim at kids who coulndt possibly get this level os Satire. They aim at parents that will, also, probably not take it as a elaborate joke. There are gamers out there who actually act and talk like this...

And all said and done, it still has so little and so stupidly not realated to the Xbox360 and it's worth as a Gaming console... it goes as a really (really) stupid Ad campaing for that.

It screams satire because it's so bad it cant hardly be real

[Krylo]

They aim at kids who coulndt possibly get this level os Satire.Well considering you and RT pretty obviously didn't, then yeah, I'd have to agree that maybe it's going over the heads of some of the kids.

Though it IS kinda funny how like ten seconds ago you were completely obviously totally missing any kind of satire to it: What demographic is microsoft aiming? The 90's Stereotypical black male? Geez! And now you're playin' off like you always saw it. I mean, I'm pretty sure you'll keep tryin' to cover it up or whatever, but yeah, if you recognized the satire you wouldn't wonder whether the demographic they're aiming at is "The 90's Stereotypical black male," or, in other words, people who actually talk like that.

it still has so little and so stupidly not realated to the Xbox360 and it's worth as a Gaming console.I think the only console that has any kind of ads that relate to it's ability as a gaming console--as opposed to simply trying to subconsciously implant the idea of the system as 'good' in our minds through exciting or psychological imagery and music or humor is the Wii.

Consoles aren't the only products that advertise in such a manner either.

I've yet to see a beer or alcohol commercial which proclaims how quickly it will fuck your shit up or how good it tastes. It's instead showing someone drinking it surrounded by women and having fun. It's not showing its qualities as an alcoholic beverage. It's subconsciously causing you to connect the alcohol to pleasure in your mind.


It screams satire because it's so bad it cant hardly be realExactly. That's why satire is funny.

Read a Modest Proposal. It's not full of little jokes. It's only funny because the idea of eating children to deal with the potato famine is so terrible that it has to be a joke.


I mean, I won't say THIS is particularly good satire, but some of the reactions here were not the reaction one has to bad satire. They're the reaction one has to not recognizing satire.

[water]

*flinches uncomfortably* Ouch. There is no recovery to that slap down...

[Selfish]

Kyrlo? You so cool!

Liek zOmG the burrrrrrnnnnnn you gave that boy is so palpable that I felt it from here. Now kiss the boo boo and make the pain go away. ;)

When I saw that ad, I laughed. Heartily. Is like the new Shreddies ads you see: Shreddies - we are now EXCITING like a DIAMOND. Thought that was the cleverest ad I had seen for a long, loooooooooooooooooong time.
There is a cellular phone company ; koodoo? I think? Anyway, they`re into the healthy exercise push to be rid of extra fees - you don`t want a fat telephone bill, so go with them.
It`s fun, a little different, and strange enough to draw you to it. Oh, undoubtedly some folk (thinking literally as they are wont to do) will not "get" it; to them, though, "take a hike" means to put on comfortable shoes and carry a water bottle through the woods.

*snuggles down a little into the forums to see what hilarity ensues, and to keep a maternal eye on Seil*

[CelesJessa]

Consoles aren't the only products that advertise in such a manner either.
For example: pretty much every other product ever advertised.


I thought it was pretty amusing. I don't know what everyone else's problem is. Come on "parental street cred"? That's amazing. I know if I was a parent, I would loooove to go up to my kid and be all like "Yo my shizzle fo rizzle. I just got you a XBox 360, now you be blingin'. Boo yah." And they couldn't do anything about it because I just bought them a goddamn Xbox 360.


Pretty ingenious on their part.

[Lord of Joshelplex]

I found it humorous.

[DFM]

I've yet to see a beer or alcohol commercial which proclaims how quickly it will fuck your shit up or how good it tastes.

I've seen these, but it's usually a light beer talking about how good it tastes. Not positive on the fuck your shit up ads but I could swear I've seen a couple.

[Raiden]

I'd have preferred a list of words that parents could give their preteen kids that play Halo 3 online.

You can only hear a kid yell "F**king F*g Camper, you P*ssy, F**king McF**k F**k!" so many times.

Kids these days don't get slapped in the mouth as often as they used to. And that's a bad thing.

[DFM]

At least they have the decency to censor themselves!

[BitVyper]

I'd say I'm surprised at how many took this seriously, but I've read Youtube comments too often for that to be true.

[Lightnix]

Ahaha. Hilarious. Presuming I ever have kids, I shall actively look for little guides like that just to wind them up.

[Fifthfiend]

I'm totally going to start using crack a lano, no I just can't do it, not even as a joke.

[TDK]

For the record, I got the joke. Its just an awful, awful joke.

I mean, come on. "And you'll be PWNING some EMO in stockholm in no time"

[BitVyper]

For the record, I got the joke. Its just an awful, awful joke.

I mean, come on. "And you'll be PWNING some EMO in stockholm in no time"

I actually found the videos pretty funny.

I just can't do it, not even as a joke.

Fo' shiggidy, my weeble.

[TDK]

Okay, I'll admit the videos are entertaining, if only because they can do that with a straight face.


...Word. Yo. Foe-shiz-hull.

[Wyndon]

I didn't get it at first and was confused, but damn, I've even read Jonathan Swift's paper, and loved it, analyzed it for my Writing class! Damn, I feel dumb.

Still though, amusing, but not partiiiicularly well done. It was alright.

[Lightnix]

I take some kind of mental refuge in the thought that one day when we're all dead and gone, somebody will find that pamphlet and it'll really throw them off course.

[Smarty McBarrelpants]

I doubt it. Like we have some excellent Roman satires which have no external reference to the fact that they are satires but we know they are.

It could happen but then someone would have to preserve that for that long.

[Lumenskir]

You can only hear a kid yell "F**king F*g Camper, you P*ssy, F**king McF**k F**k!" so many times.

Kids these days don't get slapped in the mouth as often as they used to. And that's a bad thing.
Hmm, naughty language or risky sex lives (http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080229/FRONTPAGE/802290332). What to do, what to do.

Also, whoever came up with -
Boo-yah, I wooped you in Scene It!
- Should make sure his Oddjob insurance is all paid up because that was golden.

[Bells]

Well considering you and RT pretty obviously didn't, then yeah, I'd have to agree that maybe it's going over the heads of some of the kids.

Though it IS kinda funny how like ten seconds ago you were completely obviously totally missing any kind of satire to it: And now you're playin' off like you always saw it. I mean, I'm pretty sure you'll keep tryin' to cover it up or whatever, but yeah, if you recognized the satire you wouldn't wonder whether the demographic they're aiming at is "The 90's Stereotypical black male," or, in other words, people who actually talk like that.

I mean, I won't say THIS is particularly good satire, but some of the reactions here were not the reaction one has to bad satire. They're the reaction one has to not recognizing satire.

Well, to do a mea-culpa i didnt watch the videos on youtube, only saw the flyer and the website... but not that im offended or anything, but i really didnt care for being called "childish" just because i though a bad satire campaing is stupid...

At least i, for one, have a somewhat low tolerance to Advertising and how bad it can get sometimes... maybe you could see it as overeacting, but i didnt fly by me all that easily.

Like i compared it to the Crying baby PS3 ads... just as bad, just as "stupid"... satire or not, its just a really poor ad campaing. And it's not the first one related to the xbox... there was that one Banned ad campaing about people "shooting" and killing other people with invisible weapons in a train station... just as bad.

Just like those Squirrel ads for the PSP

I just wished they didnt do stuff liek that anymore, that they got a clue. But bad ads always exist and will always be there... this one, at least for me, can at most be called "passable amusing", not that i dont have the sense of humour for it, i just think they did it in the worst way possible.

[Fifthfiend]

Fo' shiggidy, my weeble.

I will pistol-whip you.

[Zilla]

- Should make sure his Oddjob insurance is all paid up because that was golden.

Alright, stop the topic right here.

Lumenskir, get out.

[Mike McC]

Like i compared it to the Crying baby PS3 ads... just as bad, just as "stupid"... satire or not, its just a really poor ad campaing.Those ads were actually pretty damn smart once you realized what they're saying. Essentially, that the PS3 was the ultimate toy, the ultimate plaything, and all your old toys could no longer compete with it. They were a bit strange, though, that much is for sure.

[katiuska]

See, the danger of the "it's so ridiculous, it can't be serious" approach is that in practice, people decode intent largely from tone and other such things. I ran into trouble for years before I realized that I could head it off by using few more nonverbal cues... not that they can be applied much to print. The pamphlet itself has some strong hints, but it's a little less glaring than the webpage or ads, for which there's no excuse.

One of our English professors has had a page of The Weekly World News on his door for years with even more awful examples of this, in the context of a hip-hop Shakespearian troupe. ('"Yo, what whack light through yonder window be booyah? It be the east, and Juliet is my sweet fly def honey. Word.") Incidentally, the headline below it was "Picture Found to be Worth Only 923 Words."

[darth vader wannabe]

I've yet to see a beer or alcohol commercial which proclaims how quickly it will fuck your shit up or how good it tastes.

I've seen these, but it's usually a light beer talking about how good it tastes. Not positive on the fuck your shit up ads but I could swear I've seen a couple.

Well, while not being entirely "It'll get you drunk, bitch!" a la Sam Adams Beer, at one point Bacardi had an ad campaign that ran for Bacardi and Cola under the catchphrase "It gets the job done." Which is just about as close to "It gets you drunk" as you can get without ACTUALLY being "It gets you drunk."

On topic -- while this may or may not be real (or satire), it is doing the one thing that advertising is meant to do: It's getting people to talk about it, thereby pushing the product.

While it may seem like this is a terrible idea (I'd be laughing my ass off if my parents said just about anything on that list), it's still having people talk about it, isn't it?

[Mr.Bookworm]

I found it humorous.

I concur.

Though I find it amazing that someone could actually look at it for more than five seconds and actually think it was serious.

[Megaman FTW]

My reaction was odd. I laughed a bit then died a bit inside the same time as soon as I remembered my Dad actually tried that crap. Maybe not getting a list and reading it like that, but still. A 40 year old man cannot say "that game looks pimpin' " and get a good reaction.

[R|Я]

]A 40 year old man cannot say "that game looks pimpin' " and get a good reaction.
P Diddy could.

[Mike McC]

1) P Diddy is only 38.
2) Why not go with Dr. Dre, or Rev Run, or someone who is not... well, P Diddy?

[Mr.Bookworm]

1) P Diddy is only 38.
2) Why not go with Dr. Dre, or Rev Run, or someone who is not... well, P Diddy?

Fo' shiggidy, my weeble, why you hatin' on P. Diddy's phat mad skills? The man got game off the hizzle. He got sick cheddar. Man be blingin'. You gotta recognize P. Diddy's all that. Word.

Let's bounce, homies.

[R|Я]

1) P Diddy is only 38.
2) Why not go with Dr. Dre, or Rev Run, or someone who is not... well, P Diddy?Fo' shiggidy, my weeble, why you hatin' on P. Diddy's phat mad skills? The man got game off the hizzle. He got sick cheddar. Man be blingin'. You gotta recognize P. Diddy's all that. Word.

Let's bounce, homies. Now aren't you sorry you asked?

As a matter of fact I considered Dr Dre, but I was too lazy to figure out how old he actually was. And I round up. 38 is basically 40 in my book.

Also, I wouldn't pass this monstrosity off on some I respect. Like the good Dr.

[Megaman FTW]

Fo' shiggidy, my weeble, why you hatin' on P. Diddy's phat mad skills? The man got game off the hizzle. He got sick cheddar. Man be blingin'. You gotta recognize P. Diddy's all that. Word.

Let's bounce, homies.

AND NOW A TRANSLATION FOR THE HUMAN PART OF OUR AUDIENCE:

You are correct, my friend. Why do you discriminate against P. Diddy's incredible talents? He is extremely good at (whatever the crap P. Diddy does). He is... I can't translate sick cheddar. He is amazing. You have to respect the fact that while you may not be interested in his profession, it is valid and he is good at it. Said and done.

Sorry if its not perfect, I've only got about half a semester in ebonics.

[R|Я]

He got sick cheddar = He's got a lot of money
Man be blingin' = He is showing of his style in jewlrey.

I'm a helper!