Sony apologise for PR stunt
We haven't seen a really controversial Sony PR stunt since their ill-advised PSP adverts, in which a white woman loomed over a petrified-looking black girl, with the slogan, "PlayStation Portable White is coming."
Before that, Sony had to apologise and subsequently withdraw an advertising campaign for the PlayStation, which featured a man wearing a crown of thorns with the slogan "Ten years of passion". Not to mention the PSP billboard ad that advised consumers at train stations to "Take a running jump from here".
The shock tactics used by Sony in their advertising campaigns create a great deal of publicity. A quick apology, and it's all forgotten, then onto the next one. So, it was no surprise when we discovered that the company are at it again, this time in an effort to promote the PS2 version of God Of War II.
At a launch event for the game, guests were invited to reach into the innards of a freshly slaughtered goat in order to try some offal. According to the Daily Mail, guests also "threw knives at targets and pulled live snakes from a pit with their bare hands. Topless girls added to the louche atmosphere by dipping grapes into guests’ mouths, while a male model portraying Kratos, the game’s warrior hero, handed out garlands."
The images from the party were due to be published in the next issue of the Official Playstation Magazine, due out on Tuesday, but Sony has now recalled all 80,000 issues, after a flood of complaints. The two page feature was said to show "a goat’s decapitated head hanging by a thread of tissue from its corpse, with blood dripping to the floor. "
Sony has issued an official apology: "Sony does not condone or sanction any inappropriate behaviour by its staff or sub-contracted staff.
"It has come to our attention that at the God Of War II launch showcase, an element of the event was of an unsuitable nature.
"We are conducting an internal inquiry into aspects of the event in order to learn from the occurrence and put into place measures to ensure that this does not happen again."
God of War II was released in the UK on Friday and is said to portray the violent world of Greek mythology in all its gory detail.
Source :: Daily Mail
