Veteran calls out “crass”, “hideous” Modern Warfare 3 advertising

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US Army Special Operations Command paratrooper D.B. Grady has poured scorn on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3′s live-action TV ads.In an article entitled “The Hideous Marketing of ‘Modern Warfare 3′” for the Atlantic, Grady described the “tastelessness” of the commercial series starring Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill as the Vet and the n00b.

“The advertisement trivializes combat and sanitizes war,” he said.

“After ten years of constant war, of thousands of amputees and flag-draped coffins, of hundreds of grief-stricken communities, did nobody involved in this commercial raise a hand and say, ‘You know, this is probably a little crass. Maybe we could just show footage from the game.’”

Himself a veteran of Afghanistan, Grady said the ad’s timing is particularly poor given escalating conflict.

“As Afghanistan intensifies and we assess the mental and physical damage to veterans of Iraq, is now really the time to sell the country on how much fun the whole enterprise is?” he asked.

“Here I point to the giddy howls of one supposed soldier in the commercial as he fires a grenade launcher at some off-screen combatant. War is great, see? It’s like a gritty Disneyland.”

Activision was also criticised for its 2010 Black Ops marketing, which also used the tagline “there’s a soldier in all of us”.

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Source: http://www.vg247.com/2012/01/03/veteran-calls-out-crass-hideous-modern-warfare-3-advertising/

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"Veteran calls out “crass”, “hideous” Modern Warfare 3 advertising" :: Login/Create an Account :: 66 comments

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TTg_cntbanusallPosted:

Two thoughts: 1 war is not fun, but.... People choose to join the military! Also, war is a choice, a bad choice made by the leaders or our great country. Maybe they should say war is crass and hidious not a video game! (which has no realism to it what so ever, the only thing that is real is the names o the weapons!)

2. Its not depicting a war, it's depicting a video game only based on wars and a war like environment! There is a reason why they have ratings on video games! Anyone who thinks war is fun, funny, or not very sirious is obviously to young to play the game or to immature to play the game!

FinancialChadPosted:

I did think this was overplayed. As well as the way they proposed it, it was too much...

SalmineseePosted:

This man has a point. I do enjoy Call of Duty but this add shows war as a game where it is just played for jeers. This ad shows kids that war is fun and these kids don't realized the realism of what is happening throughout the world.

tE_BadkiidPosted:

plus has anybody thought they air the commercial too much because i see it like every commercial break

HairPosted:

Battlefield 3.

H3artlesskillPosted:

yea..it wasnt all that great...