How far should violent video game ads be kept from schools?
Should this picture be placed near schools?
(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment America)Killzone 2 is being celebrated by video game journalists as one of the greatest first-person shooters ever released, but the game--which takes place on Planet Helghan as war erupts all over the world--is catching some fire of its own here on Earth, around Toronto.
According to a report in The Star, a Toronto newspaper, Pauline Johnson Junior Public School officials e-mailed Sony Canada after seeing more than 300 Killzone 2 ads placed on bus shelters near their school. Citing poor placement and suspect images, the officials demanded Sony remove the ads immediately out of concern for students.
"My kids, who come from a lot of different countries, who have to experience violence, who basically come here to seek shelter and safety, that's the stuff they don't need to see," Davis Mirza, a fourth and fifth grade teacher at the school, told The Star.
According to Mirza, the ads featured a "menacing head with glowing eyes" that was wearing a mask with a breathing tube as a war zone "like Iraq" was depicted behind the figure. Citing Sony's responsibility to the community, Mirza told The Star that he was upset the company wasn't doing its part to "promote any kind of community renewal or even responsibility."
Once Sony Canada received the e-mail, the ads were taken down immediately, company officials told The Star, and from now on, it will establish an advertising-free radius around schools. Sony representatives didn't indicate how far that radius would reach, but the company wants to be "sensitive to community concerns."
The idea of moving ads away from schools is probably a smart decision on the part of Sony and every other video game developer that doesn't want to upset an entire community. School officials have a point when they complain about violent video game ads around kids who aren't even old enough to buy them and Sony did the right thing by bringing the ads down and in effect, admitting it was wrong.
But if Sony will start creating an advertising barrier around schools, how far away should it be? Some might say that one mile is far enough, since most kids will be on the bus by then. Others might say the advertisements can be placed within a few hundred yards from a school.
Either way, Sony has made the pledge to keep violent video game ads away from schools. But developing the proper radius might be difficult, since there are so many schools in most communities, leaving only certain areas available to ads. And then there's the likelihood that ads placed in these areas won't be effective because they won't be viewed by the target demographic. After all, the ads in the bus shelters were placed there for a reason: kids would see them and want the game.
While I applaud Sony for taking the ads down over community unrest, I wonder how it plans to implement its advertising-free zones, since a standard distance probably won't work around every school. In fact, I'm not even sure what a fair distance would be. Does Sony know something we don't?
In trying to do good, I wonder if Sony has hindered its ability to effectively advertise.
Do you have a good idea of how far Sony should keep violent video game ads away from schools? Vote in the poll here and let us know.
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
As to this being a sign of 'improper product placement'.... get real. We have advertisements for Friday the 13th movies on TV where any child can see them, what's the problem with these things?
Stop taking the hardline gamer stance and realize that sensitivity is a big thing. Or just go watch more House and pull the "I'm an *** and I don't care" gimmick.
Possibly the kids are uneffected & don't care, possibly they do. A parent can stop a child from watching an ad on TV or playing the wrong game, but these posters are passive and the parent can't protect their child from them.
I guess part of the debate should be, SHOULD we be protecting our children from these things? I'm not a parent and don't know the answer to that. It is definitely one debate worth having.
Let them teach Bible in public schools at an early age. Let them start classes with a prayer asking God to guide the children.
Remove immoral agenda from society such as embryonic stem cell research, abortion, assisted suicide, and ****-sexuality. Remove TV or other media programs of pictures and songs with violent and sexual contents.
?But with the computer having played such a role in the young man?s life, the Winnenden shootings seem likely to renew a debate in Germany over banning violent video games. ?These games basically program the minds of young men a thousand times over,? said Alina Wilms, a psychologist involved in treating people affected by the Erfurt shooting, who advocates a ban. If ever it were going to be possible, she said, ?then now.?? ?Portrait of German Gunman Emerges,? Carter Dougherty from Frankfurt, Germany, Victor Homola from Berlin, and Alan Cowell from Paris, March 13, 2009, The New York Times.
?The Stuttgart chief prosecutor, Siegfried Mahler, said Mr. Kretschmer?s personal computer contained pornographic images. The teenager had also spent time playing computer games depicting violence. ?German Killer Signaled Plans on Net,? By Carter Dougherty and Victor Homola, March 12, 2009, The New York Times.
?Even the natural scenery in which a child is reared has much to do with the tone and hue of its future character. Beautiful things spread before the eye of childhood print themselves on the sensitive heart. The mountains, the sea, lovely valleys, picturesque landscapes, forests, flowers, all have their influence in shaping the life. Still greater is the influence of the house itself in which a child is brought up. This subject has not yet received the attention which it merits. As people advance in civilization and refinement they build better houses. In great cities the criminal and degraded classes live in wretched hovels. One of the first steps in any wise effort to elevate the low and vicious elements of society must be to provide better dwellings for them. When a whole family are crowded into one room neither physical nor moral health is possible. In a wretched, filthy apartment in a dark court or miserable alley it is impossible for children to grow up into purity and refinement. One of the things for true philanthropy to do is to devise some plan by which better homes may be provided for the poor. Until this is done the leprous spots in our great cities cannot be healed.? The Home Beautiful, J.R. Miller (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1921).
I thank cnet for letting me post my opinions. I thank people who take time to read my opinions.
Now, the rest of your points, with your supposed "evidence" of the worlds corruption by the video game medium and anything related to it, it comes off as slapdash and ignorant. Can you not just have a hand in what your children do? If your child is 15 and is playing an "M" rated game, take it away from him because it's not intended for children so young. In fact, getting acquainted with the games rating system sounds like it would do you a great service. If your child watches a graphic movie, it's not the film's fault, it's likely yours. If there's a song that you feel doesn't engender your beliefs, go out of your way to make sure he doesn't listen to it. It's your child, do something. Stop letting the world take over your child raising responsiblities. Then again, you sound like a militant Christian that has no children. Read the Bible, more specifically, Jesus' and Paul's teaching on spreading the faith through peaceful, smart, and culturally relevant ways. I'm not say what books and chapters, it just sounds like you need to READ the Bible.
By listing a lot of -bad- things you hope to gain support, but your argument holds no weight.
You can't expect the public school system to teach your kids 'morality', that is the exclusive job off the parents. If you think your child is being immoral, you only have yourself to blame. . . BECAUSE OF THE HOLOCAUST!!!!!
Facist, ignorant opinions that seek to create a world of hate are what causes killings. Not video games. Hitler burned books. I suppose you seek to burn games.
Regardless, your points on games being evil are not even relevant to this article which is talking about advertising in inappropriate places/times. That is a debate with merit. Facism is not - it has been tried (and many still attempt to try it). So thank you for exercising your freedom of speech but I think if you wanted to spread love you should've tried by not using hate.
Your comment was just as ignorant and misinforming as smallvoice's. I don?t want to get into a religious debate here but saying the Bible condones selling some one for slavery just shows how much you don?t know about the Bible at all. You like a lot of people, Christian included, tend to read one part of the Bible and use your own interpretation to attack someone?s belief.
To smallvoice-
I guess your one of those that believes you should spread the word threw hate and judgment. First off this is not the time and place for it, and attacking people by force feeding them the word is never a good idea.
Back to the subject at hand. yes they should have a radius set for these advertisement, but why again just attack video games. I seem to have noticed ads for watchmen ?Happy face with a spot of blood?, Victoria secret ?half naked hotties?, and a whole bunch of randomly placed ads that are violent, or sexually subjective around schools. Where?re the emails against that? Oh that?s right there not news worthy but Sony taking responsibility and actually bringing the adds down is.
in a society where we push our kids to be more educated and mature at younger ages yet still try and treat them like their brain functions are inferior. we cannot keep the same old standards of the past. modern society is evolving constantly, people just havent realized it yet.
I think many are really underestimating to an insulting level how big an act murder is for a child (I include suicide in this, which is tragically the number 1 killer of kids in most western nations). It is a HUGE step, a massive decission. There has to have been a long standing mental illness and/or trauma (possibly ongoing). A kid doesn't just decide one day to shoot his teachers/classmates or him/herself. It is a long build up and the game is not the cause. Dare I remind people that shootings occured before video games and marilyn manson videos.
- by susi55 March 17, 2009 9:15 AM PDT
- I managed to synchronize with windows iphone
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- by pithenumber March 21, 2009 2:02 PM PDT
- and this is related to videogame ads how?
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