UK pro-notbeingfat campaign: Gamers bound to die young

To be fair this is only one of the ads the campaign "Change4life" uses, another one being of a kid eating cake but this ad I as someone who happen to enjoy video games am actually mad about and apparently i am not the only one.

The TIGA (British pression (?) group in favor of the video games industry) already took it up to justice. The ELSPA (the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) who actually is involved in the many talks about video games with the British ministry of health has pretty much no idea how this could have happened since it are the same people who they discuss how the industry is doing their best to make people more active could decide and fund such a campaign.

The UK magazine MCVUK hand in hand with Atari went to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) to complain about the message the ad is showing.

Finally Sega came out and said how they where displeased that out of all the passive forms of entertainment the less passive one is once again under attack.

Wonder how Sony will react when they get to see the PS3 associated with premature deaths.

Well, I have not seen that ad before, but seeing it now I can see why it has caused an issue. Obesity is on the rise in the UK and for a while now we have had the highest rates in Europe, as a result there are campaigns to rectify this.

It's not good advertising anyway you look at it, there are far better ways of promoting good health.

Sony will be pissed.

I'm all for child obesity and shut-in gamers. The more kids that grow up with no social life and health issues, the more likely I am likely to succeed.

Call me cruel if you like, but they do call it "survival of the fittest" for a reason.

Ah yes of course, the "Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association" or NAMBLA.

How does playing video games mean you don't exercise?
I don't get it.

Call me crazy, but these are equal to your health.

I agree with it, if I personally spent the time that I played games with on playing football I would be alot healthier than I am now.

guys

he's holding a ps3 controller


If i did that for a long time i would certainly wish for an early death

So is this pretty much
"Living long and unhappy > Short and happy"
Well thats stupid.Also kid looks like a drug addict.

"guys

he's holding a ps3 controllerIf i did that for a long time i would certainly wish for an early death"

I bet that kid can't drink a Coke in 8 seconds.

Okay well at least you move around in Wii games and plus as long as you exercise on your own you can play games without getting over weight.

Once again, video games are the scapegoat of the ignorant in an attempt to justify their cause and bring attention to themselves. I exercise and play video games (though not at the same time, instead I usually listen to the GBcast) and would consider myself "somewhat fit".

"Once again, video games are the scapegoat of the ignorant in an attempt to justify their cause and bring attention to themselves. I exercise and play video games (though not at the same time, instead I usually listen to the GBcast) and would consider myself "somewhat fit"."

kid looks like an arsehole anyway

if he wasn't playing games he'de probably be off pushing other kids over and stealing bicycles or whatever it is children do nowadays that isn't games

update, sony is going for a lawsuit on the basis of them not having agreed that their product would be in this advert (according to MCVUK).

Konami came out and say that it is bull pimping the DDR franchise at the same time.

Codemaster's Rod Cousins commented that once again the government has no idea what they are doing stressing the fact that the industry has been sponsoring sport events and diverse charities. 

I used to run on the treadmill, while using a wireless mouse to move my dude around, while being AFK in Warcraft battlegrounds. Got my merciless gladiators gear, for free, woo!

"update, sony is going for a lawsuit on the basis of them not having agreed that their product would be in this advert (according to MCVUK).

Konami came out and say that it is bull pimping the DDR franchise at the same time.

Codemaster's Rod Cousins commented that once again the government has no idea what they are doing stressing the fact that the industry has been sponsoring sport events and diverse charities.  "

.Also kid looks like a drug addict."

Maybe some of us have no aspirations for long life.  Ever think about that?

"Maybe some of us have no aspirations for long life.  Ever think about that?

Personally, I don't wanna live past 50-60 years old!  Why?  Because I don't want to be a mooching welfare old fart running around doing nothing but being senile.  If I died tomorrow, I'd be mostly okay with it.  Sure, I didn't have any kids or get married, but I enjoyed my string of life.

So...who the hell is to say that people can't die young?

"

While the advert has good intentions, it is poorly worded and it comes across as scaremongering rather than being informative. It raises good points to do with the activity levels of kids who play games, but fails to follow it up by making it clear that games themselves are not to blame, and it's the whole lifestyle of these kids, and that they need exercise and a well balanced lifestyle of which video games can be a part of.

I don't think this was intentional, I think they rushed the advert out and the message they wanted to promote was very different to the way it actually comes across in the advert.

Folks, the reason the ad campaign even exists is because our government know they are going to lose the next general election. People hate Gordon Brown and the Labour Party, they are just doing all sorts of crap now because they know they'll soon be off. 

This is such a stupid campaign, why target gaming? I don't really understand that, especially as the gaming industry does the government a lot of good financially.