Jack Thompson hates BioShock adverts

Written by Joe Martin

August 20, 2007 | 11:14

Tags: #advert #advertising #bioshock #boston #court #florida #irrational #jack #jt #law #legal #levine #suit #thompson

Companies: #ftc

Bioshock is big on the internet right now and it's almost impossible to avoid any news about it. Which is a good thing; games of this quality and calibre are so few and far between that every gamer on the planet should be made aware of it.

Of course, that approach isn't something everyone agrees with and everyone’s favourite anti-game attorney, Jack Thompson, has now filed a complaint with the Florida Trade Commission. The full complaint is being hosted at GamePolitics for those who are fluent in legalese.

In brief though, ol' JT is concerned with how the game is being aggressively marketed to children under 17 years of age.

"On this Friday's night's 8 pm Eastern time airing of WWE's wrestling program "Smackdown," there were repeated ads for Take-Two/Rockstar Game's Mature-rated, incredibly violent BioShock ... This rampant fraudulent trade practice is precisely what 'Big Tobacco' did with its 'Joe Camel' and other teen-targeting ads, while at the same time lying to Congress that it was not marketing its adult product to kids." Jack said in the complaint.

My take on all this? While it is obviously a reasonable request in that no mature material should be marketed to children in such a way, I'd personally be more worried about the glorified violence presented in professional wrestling and what effect that may have on the children watching. It seems a little odd to condone this material for children, but protest a computer game being advertised.

The FTC has already stated in the past that it thinks the games industry is doing a good job of monitoring itself, but that both the games and movie industries are guilty of marketing R and M rated content during shows with inappropriate demographics.

How should adult material be advertised and what is your opinion on one of the industry’s most controversial figures? Opinions in the forums, if you please.
Discuss this in the forums
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