Oh no! There’s politics in my video games!
An in-game billboard
for Barack Obama has been spotted in high-speed racing video game Burnout
Paradise with a link to voteforchange.com.
EA responded to Jalopnik by stating that “like most
television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible
political candidates. Like political spots on the television networks, these
ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its
development teams.”
This is the latest attempt to target voters in a compelling
and, at the very least, interesting election year. I’m definitely
curious to see what effect, while flipping through the sky from a high-speed
car crash, these in-game advertisements will have on gamers, especially because
it’s political and not entertainment-related.
It’s another bid to appeal to the young adult crowd, though
it remains to be seen if the tech-shy McCain will follow suit with his own ad
in the gang-ridden streets of Liberty
City.