Sony's shower of piss advert

By Tom Bramwell Published 19 December, 2006

Well, we hadn't seen it.

As we get on for Christmas, it's important not only to be subject to one another, but also to embrace some of the things we've neglected in the preceding 12 months. Like Sony's mad advert about a man pissing on his own car.

The basic idea seems to be that some kids spot a rival gang's "ride" sitting unguarded on the side of the road, and one of them hops out and lets rip all across the bonnet and frontside passenger seat. Then it gets even more surreal, and squelchy.

The advert - for Gangs of London on the PlayStation Portable (what else?) - has apparently been around for a while, but we've only just noticed it because we barely use the Internet what with all the terrorism and that. The tagline is, "You've marked your territory... now fight to keep it."

Apparently it was envisaged as some sort of viral ad to encourage 16 to 30 year-olds to play the game, which is largely rubbish in our experience, with the exception of a handful of mini-games you can play in the in-game pub. For more on Gangs of London, read the review.

For more on Sony's weird pissing advert, watch it elsewhere.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Rambaldi #1 5 years ago

    Oh dear. They really are PR mentalists.

  • nickthegun #2 5 years ago

    Viral Advertising - Killer App - Next Gen

    That is all.

  • Steroyd #3 5 years ago

    I like the Mexican dustballs.

  • lambtron #4 5 years ago

    Sony + advertising = lame.

  • JonFE #5 5 years ago

    Let me get this straight. If Sony suggests that "pissing marks your territory", then they do, in effect, acknowledge that Nintendo has marked its territory with the Wii, right?


    ;D

  • InfiniteFury #6 5 years ago

    How edgy.

    They are to be congratulated on the PS3's success so far, creating Microsoft and Nintendo's customers of tomorrow.

  • sickpuppysoftware #7 5 years ago

    Sony + advertising = lame.

    Gaming + advertising = lame

  • Penguinzoot #8 5 years ago

    @JonFE

    Priceless :D

  • lambtron #9 5 years ago

    "Gaming + advertising = lame"

    I can think of several decent adverts for games:

    GeOW,
    Halo2,
    Onimusha 3,

    Those are just a couple, there are plenty more. Some of the Sony ads in the past were ok like the one with the lass with the ridiculously shaped head. Just recently they seem to have outpoured nothing but a huge shower of shite.

  • kangarootoo #10 5 years ago

    Man I wish they would stop doing this. Its kind of embarassing.


    Advertising 101, your substitute for the day is Kangarootoo.

    Step 1. Piss does not sell things.

    Step 2. Chris Tarrant does sell things.

    There ends the class.

  • sickpuppysoftware #11 5 years ago

    @lambtron

    Really, I can only remember one of those and that's the GeOW one and only because it's just been on.

    In fact the only ones that stick in my head even remotely were the weird early PS2 ads. Even billboard wise I don't think anything has come close to the Resident Evil bath of blood.

  • asphaltcowboy #12 5 years ago

    Oh the shame :/

  • andromeda #13 5 years ago

    @ lambtron

    sorry mate

    but the gears ad was crap. Nice CG - silly choice of music.

  • L42yB #14 5 years ago

    "Gaming + advertising = lame"

    Not really true... I think Xbox has had a few really good adds... That one where the new born baby flew out the hospital window, aged really quickly while flying thru the air and then landed in their coffin woz a great add... pity it was banned after airing only a few times :( And the 360 one with the airline pilots racing 747s was cool... so was the cops and robbers thing... I think it's just sony who really *suck* at advertising

  • Mox #15 5 years ago

    "but the gears ad was crap. Nice CG"

    Ha ha!

    Almost as good as the chap who said the Sony Bravia advert was "crap CG" :)

  • kangarootoo #16 5 years ago

    Thats true, there are somne good ones.

    Who did that add with crowds of people shooting each other with their fingers, kids game style. I thought that was rather clever (I think it was banned on terrestrial tv though).

  • tiddles #17 5 years ago

    I liked this PS3 ad

  • jellyhead #18 5 years ago

    What next? TubGirl!? 0_0

  • L42yB #19 5 years ago

    @kangarootoo: That's the Xbox 360 too... they have quite a few adds themed along the lines of playing games in real life...

  • AcidSnake #20 5 years ago

    Anyone know what song is playing during the GeOW advert?
    Out of place maybe, but I like it...

  • captainrentboy #21 5 years ago

    That Microsoft skipping one was great,it really made me want to get off of my ass and buy a 360 :).....
    No,some of the 360's ones haven't been too bad actually,and some of the ones advertising xbox live are quite funny,but to me a successful ad has to show a lot of the actual gameplay,whether it be sports cars drifting and skidding around a gloriously detailed track,shit blowing up in spectacular fashion,or being shot at first and then blowing up(All whilst in-game,we're not mugs) things like that sell to the general public as opposed to the more cryptic,or should I say craptic ones(word play there) that do turn up occasionally.I mean the skipping one being a good example of a shit ad,or that PS3 one with the doll coming to life,that didn't make me want a PS3,that made me want to thoroughly shit my pants.

  • L42yB #22 5 years ago

    @AcidSnake - Songs called 'Mad World'. Originally by Tears for Fears, but the version they use is a cover by Gary Jules, i think...

  • AcidSnake #23 5 years ago

    @L42yb:
    Thanks :)

  • Xerx3s #24 5 years ago

    I will never understand PR people. Apparently, they don't understand gamers either so that kinda works out.

  • #25 5 years ago

    If I'm honest the advert was quite funny - why? Chavs already urinate on cars. What does this have to do with Gangs of London? Nothing. Kind of proves a point doesn't it?

  • Kami #26 5 years ago

    So they STILL haven't ditched their PR and advertising division?

    Poor Sony...

  • erp #27 5 years ago

    jeebus. what with this and the utterly moronic ps3 cup stacking ad, sony's (videogame) advertising is becoming a prime example of When Marketting Goes Bad. (or at least, Badder Than Is Usual).

    a certain quote from bill hicks readily comes to mind...

  • decibel #28 5 years ago

    corporate fucking shill, just another whore in the capitalist gangbang?

  • erp #29 5 years ago

    ok, yeah, i understand sony don't make them themselves. but they goddam agree to them, which makes them absolutely complicit in the resultant utter retardation.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #30 5 years ago

    Well the Gears of War ad featuring the "Mad World" song was shit too. And I mean really shit. May be the worst song selection for an advertisment this year. I actually laughed because it seemed to try so hard to be "serious".

    I don't have cable TV so I am limited to regional broadcasts only and they rarely show game ads if any so I only know very few ads. But I remember the Smash Brothers ad quite well. As far as I remember there were people in costumes, Yoshi, Mario and Donkey Kong skipping on the grass until Mario tripped over Yoshi's leg and then everyone started to beat each other. Was a fun ad.

    Did a search on youtube: http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=8e9fK38BCAQ
    Edited by 1 at 19/12/06 @ 12:32

  • BravoGolf #31 5 years ago

    YouTube Ad in question: http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=-XD6MOM78F4

  • chupachups #32 5 years ago

    Can anyone think of a successful viral campaign, successful as in selling products rather than just impressing a few bloggers?


    "Sony aren't doing these adverts
    Advertisers do "

    The advertisers come up with the ideas for adverts, but it's Sony that decides which ones they should use. Advertisers do actually consult their clients while doing campaigns, they don't just go off on their own.


    "Well the Gears of War ad featuring the "Mad World" song was shit too. And I mean really shit."

    I disagree, I think it's the best game advert for ages. Can you think of a better one?
    Edited by 1 at 19/12/06 @ 13:05

  • kangarootoo #33 5 years ago

    @AcidSnake

    In addition to what L42yB said, its from the Donnie Darko soundtrack.

  • kangarootoo #34 5 years ago

    @Der_tolle_Emil

    Now that, is properly funny. Good physical comedy is always gold, and that leg swipe with comedy record scratch hits the nail squarely on the head (followed the flying pikachu, whish is also tres amusing).

  • BraveArse #35 5 years ago

    Gotta wonder aboiut Sony's gaming marketing department. Seriously Sony, do you really think that "PSP, it's a bit like carpet you can watch outside" is going to galvanise the population into buying the console?

  • Steroyd #36 5 years ago

    <a href=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpoiRamA4Ps&mode=r elated&search=>Forgive me for liking the dustballs</a>

    And yes a Dustball does have a <a href=http://www.superhotd ustball.com/>blog</a>.

    The squirrel one is retarded though like <a href=http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=H-Gm_mlpFN8>"The PSP is like a nut you can play outside"</a>

    9/10 when they market a game or a console it's stupid.

    But you've got to laugh at the Japaneese version of these adverts they're KARAAAAZZZZYYY.

  • ManicDrunkMonk #37 5 years ago

    I quite like the joke about marking your territory. Pitty about the game.

  • kangarootoo #38 5 years ago

    I really like that squirrel advert. I thought the carpet one was poor, though maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

    Recent user testing showed that the vast majority of PSP owners don't use their PSP on the move (they take it places, but they don't play it on the way). Yes I know we've seen people on the train, but they are by far the exception. So I can understand Sony's new focus on the "you can do it outside" angle completely.

  • kangarootoo #39 5 years ago

    It sounds extremely lame, but I honestly can't say. Sorry man.

  • kangarootoo #40 5 years ago

    I think generally the PSP looks too pinchable to use out and about. Now hardened killers like you and I might not have an issue with that, but the rest of the public (in general) fears mugging too much to use their PSP on the buses of Basingstoke and Stockport.

  • TonyBlair #41 5 years ago

    This ad reflects the game PISS POOR!

    I'd buy it if it showed Malik getting pissed on!

  • erp #42 5 years ago

    add me to the list of people who found the GOW Mad World advert hideously bad, mainly because the music seems so laughably inappropriate, especially after having played the game for a while. a shame too, seems the song is quite powerful when used in a context that actually makes sense (Donnie Darko).

  • davisorle #43 5 years ago

    Der_tolle_Emil I think you have no idea about advertising and no idea about gaming as well. You think that the add for GoW was that crap? OMFG... It just makes me wonder! I can tell you like 50 people I know that asked me to give them a copy of that video in HD to have it in their pc. I have no other example of that kind to give you as far as it conserns advertising. After that goes Halo 3 in demand here. So if you think that your judgement on games or advertising is counted by anyone and mostly over any of the guys that I'm talking about I wouldn't even bother laughting at you.

    Just keep playing mario for the rest of your life since I guess your only capable of doing so and nothing more than that kind of games and stop critisising great games and their great advertisings.

  • stepneg #44 5 years ago

    The GOW ad was genius even my wife who has absolutley no interest in games said, "oooohh that looks good, what games that". You may not like the music but it does its job, people stop what their doing and watch it, unlike the psp ad with the pube's, WTF is that all about?

  • ice_freezer #45 5 years ago

    ^^
    That ad wasn't... any special. You guys are too biased, face it.
    Edited by 1 at 21/12/06 @ 10:24