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by
Ellie Gibson
Electronic Arts has apologised for any offence caused by a competition which encouraged entrants to "commit acts of lust" with booth babes.
As shown on Kotaku, the "Sin to Win" competition is being held at Comic Con to promote Dante's Inferno. The winner is promised "a night with the hottest girl at Comic Con, dinner, booty and more". The implication of "more" being obvious but the actual meaning probably being an EA-branded beachball and USB stick.
To enter, Comic Con visitors must "commit" the aforementioned "acts of lust" with any booth babe and post the pictures on the internet. Without getting arrested, presumably.
Some people have found the idea of encouraging teenage boys to photograph themselves simulating sexual acts with hired women a bit offensive, and complained.
Take actual booth babe "Iola", who writes on the Ars Technica forum: "A Con does not suddenly suspend personal rights for anyone with breasts. Gals who go there to dress up and have a good time get sexually harassed, NEVER MIND the "booth babes" who "signed up for it" and then have their employer put them out for a contest.
"I've been a "booth babe" at many comic, sci-fi and anime Cons for the last several yrs... I have a four-yr degree and my day-job is in the comic industry. But I guess I'm ASKING to be groped because I'm one step up from a hooker, right? Even if I WAS a f***ing hooker, that gives no one the right. I can walk around in a thong and pasties and it's nobody's license to touch."
She concludes, "Why aren't you guys p***ed that EA thinks gamers or con-goers are all socially-inept virgins anyway? Way to p*** on ALL of your gaming audience." Perhaps EA reckons they'd enjoy that. EA Watersports Active, anyone?
They've apologised anyway, via a Twitpic statement (spotted by Negative Gamer).
""Commit acts of lust" is simply a tongue-in-cheek way to say take pictures with costumed reps. Also, a "Night of Lust" means only that the winner will receive a chaperoned VIP night on the town with the Dante's Inferno reps, all expenses paid, as well as other prizes," the statement says.
"We apologise for any confusion and offense that resulted from our choice of wording, and want to assure you that we take your concerns and sentiments seriously... Keep watching as the event unfolds and we hope you'll agree that it was all done in the spirit of the good natured fun of Comic Con."
Dante's Inferno is out for PSP, PS3 and Xbox 360 next year, though that isn't really the point here is it.
Eurogamer is currently ordering 38 sets of "thong and pasties" for staff members to wear at this year's Expo - get your tickets now.
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10 November, 2009 [0]
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paul_haine
27/07/09 @ 09:18
+7
I always imagine they're talking about Cornish pasties when they use the word 'pasties'
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metalangel
27/07/09 @ 09:19
+11
She's got a good point, and the whole 'night of lust' thing just sounds sleazy (and not in the good way) that EA come across as idiots for even writing it.
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+14
EA's marketing department needs some people with brains, experience, some insight into their target group and actual marketing sense.
This was just asking for it, especially if the promo actually insults all the unsuspecting booth babes AND women in general at the event, as well as every gamer out there. |
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PearOfAnguish
27/07/09 @ 09:24
+30
First comment is a gem. Bet you're a hit with the ladies, LHH.
"But she was ASKING to be raped officer, the dirty whore let me see her legs!" |
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DutchDemons
27/07/09 @ 09:33
+1
kinda stupid promotion, tho the girls response immediately made me think of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZRflz-93JA watch from 3:50 |
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PearOfAnguish
27/07/09 @ 09:42
-5
"Probably a better hit then most :)"
Yes, literally a hit. You hit them over the head and drag them down a dark alley. |
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TheTingler
27/07/09 @ 09:44
+2
You go girl, that was an incredibly stupid bit of marketing. Not quite as bad as that sacrificial ceremony Sony set up for God of War II, but still dumb.
And I'm with jaxon58 here, Twitter doesn't count as... well, anything. Official apology please. |
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DanWhitehead
27/07/09 @ 09:55
+3
EG Expo will have booth babies - newborns dressed up as game characters, rolling around soft padded areas, gurgling and defecating for your amusement.
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+5
Proper apology AND either cancellation or re-wording of promotion is the only thing that'll be sufficient now. Perhaps the industry should also have look at the entire concept of booth babes as well. Don't get me wrong if I was at an expo a half naked woman would likely draw my eye to a particular booth, but gamers aren't just hetrosexual males, besides I think half naked muscley men covered in oil and listening to show tunes would be more appropriate for a game like Gears of War than any woman.
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+3
The thing is the marketing team have gonna stuck on the one idea of 'going to hell' - this is the second time they've marketed the game poorly..
Perhaps making the 'get of of hell/'save the maiden' angle qwould be better looked at, yes it's set in 'hell' but it's not like Blizzard have gone all nuts with the idea with Diablo did they or Capcom with DMC.. Perhaps just sticking to showing more about the game and not comming up with gimmiky PR events would be better press hmm? |
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+10
I think the whole concept of booth babes is rather childish to begin with. They should stop with it if the gaming industry wants to lose the image of their customers being spotty teenager boys.
The one booth babe in the article that's complaining should think about what she's doing at those cons first. She's there for the size of her tits and the shape of her butt. Nothing more, nothing less. Oh yes, rank think post -50 as well, but there's truth in the statement that if you dress up like these booth babes do, then you -are- placing yourself a few notches down the social ladder and yes, that puts you a few notches closer to "prostitute" indeed. Not all the way there, but you are walking on that showfloor to flaunt your body, sell it for attention which publishers hope to divert to their games. That opinion doesn't mean I (or probably anyone that replied to this article) think a woman that dresses provocatively should be treated as dirt, a hooker or ultimately be raped. It's madness to imply such a thing. However, you reap what you sow. If you dress in a slutty way, don't expect people to ask you about your degrees before showing a profound interest in your boobs. If boothbabes complain about comic-con attendees showing a lack of respect to them, then they should start pondering about how much respect they have for themselves. And ofcourse EA went way too far with their competition. That's obvious enough.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/07/09 @ 11:16
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Beige_Alert
27/07/09 @ 10:20
+5
Honestly, doing stupid things and then apologize must be EAs current marketing strategy.
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CountFapula
27/07/09 @ 10:34
+1
I am far from what you would call politically correct or over sensitive, but the whole concept as soon as I read it seemed really dodgy.
They should have described it much, much better - it sounded like they were prostituting out booth girls with the original wording. I love EA, and this game looks damn good to me, but man this was a stupid idea. |
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CountFapula
27/07/09 @ 10:36
-2
riz ironic how you are also reading eurogamer while making that comment :)
stupidity ftw |
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kangarootoo
27/07/09 @ 10:46
+3
A stupid idea by a stupid person. Is it any wonder it got complaints?
Regardless of your feelings about boothbabes, none of us should be encouraging actual stupidity. |
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influenceuk
27/07/09 @ 11:21
0
Personally i think EA's marketing did their job fine, just not how they intended. They have still had press about the game which is what they would want.
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kangarootoo
27/07/09 @ 11:29
+3
"Personally i think EA's marketing did their job fine, just not how they intended"
Surely any good marketeer should at least know the outcome of a marketing campaign. If you don't get the result you intended, that is incompetance by degrees isn't it? Getting lots of people talking by happy coincidence, even though response to your campaign was negative, falls a way below my own definition of doing a "fine" job. |
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CountFapula
27/07/09 @ 11:48
0
influence, I am pretty sure I could get press by making a game about hitler teaming up with the kkk to put minorities into concentration camps, but that doesn't mean the game is gonna fly off the shelves or that my marketing is genius.
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+4
Agreed with Eraser - maybe I'm just a prude, but the whole concept of "booth babes" is terribly embarrassing.
They perpetuate the stereotype of the sad and lonely gamer, but unfortunately as the success of booth babes and big-titted gaming heroines have shown, perhaps the stereotype isn't far off the mark. |
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PearOfAnguish
27/07/09 @ 11:56
0
So, pasties, eh? Is that actually a word used to describe clothing? Is it not a typo for 'panties'?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasties "adhesive coverings applied to cover a person's nipples" apparently |
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beastmaster
27/07/09 @ 12:35
+1
Didn't they used to (perhaps still do) have these kind of things at Motor Shows?
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/07/09 @ 13:36
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+2
Yes, they do.
And when I went to Internet World this year - along with all the search engine optimisers, hosting companies, social marketing gurus etc., the first thing you saw when you came in the entrance was girls in hotpants and tiny vests dancing to some Europop music to promote a specialist CRM company. It was fucking tragic, and those near me that I asked agreed. |
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+2
"Agreed with Eraser - maybe I'm just a prude, but the whole concept of "booth babes" is terribly embarrassing.
They perpetuate the stereotype of the sad and lonely gamer, but unfortunately as the success of booth babes and big-titted gaming heroines have shown, perhaps the stereotype isn't far off the mark. " Sex sells everything these days though. As someone said they have these "costumed reps" (lol) at motor shows. Half naked women are used to sell just about every product in existence... (well the ones bought by men anyway) I do agree with you though, this competition is just embarrasing.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 27/07/09 @ 13:51
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smoothpete
27/07/09 @ 12:51
+4
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasties
"adhesive coverings applied to cover a person's nipples" apparently " Christ, you definitely do NOT want to try that with a Gregg's Steakbake, you'll burn the nipples off |
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+1
@hiddenranbir
Yeah man, she was expecting to be looked at as something close to a hooker. It's in her job description that she signed. But if you pass by a hooker on the street you just eyeball her, not jump on her and start groping as a right that you have. Don't they have a fucking ethics committee over there in the US, the most advanced country? That could squeeze a fine out of EA's marketers since it's a public event. And yeah, way to say sorry on fucking Twitter.
Edited 2 times,
most recently on 27/07/09 @ 14:56
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