Monday, April 24, 2006

can banner ads jump the shark as an advertising medium?

'Cause if they can, man, they just did.

Before I get to the actual shark jumping in question, I have to explain just how big of a sucker I am for pretty much any kind of video game.

It doesn't matter what stupid product I'm being promised. It doesn't matter how many obnoxious pop-ups I'm going to be subjected to by actually winning. I cannot turn my back on the new trend of flash animated games where you're asked to participate in order to win a Playstation 9/RAZR docking station/iPod cerebral jack accessory. And they're stupid games, too. I'm talking about the things where you're told "Kill 10 spiders to win everything I own!" or "Race against Paris Hilton and win a toy chihuahua!" I will play every single one of those damn little things until I beat them. It's a sickness really.

The ones that I find weirdest are the politically themed games. There's one where you play as Bush and have to out weight lift Governor Arnold. There's one where you have to box Osama Bin Laden. Etc, etc. They're mind-numbingly pointless, all of them.

Anyway, the one I just saw and the one that - to me - means that these things have jumped the shark:

outknit_saddam

I don't know what I find more ridiculous about this thing: the giant red "KNIT" button or the fact that it's Bush verses a political enemy that's already been neutralized. Why are they knitting? Why are they wearing grandmotherly hats? Why did someone pay for this ad?

Seriously, why the fuck would Saddam and Bush be knitting together? Why?!

Lots of whys. Not many answers. Still, I played the damn thing until I beat it, so I guess they got what they wanted out of me.

3 comments:

rooni said...

I was going to tell you that you have a sickness, but you are apparently already aware of this sad fact.

Why have you been hiding this from me for so long?

What have you won? Are you hiding a pile of RAZRs and bluetooth headsets and a stack of coupons for ringtones in your closet or something? Have you won ANYTHING?

Bug said...

It's been a secret shame, that's for sure.

And no, I haven't won anything. As soon as I beat these things they launch new browser windows that I instantly close.

So, I'm just playing them for the love of the game, really.

That probably makes it even worse than you thought.

EmoRiot said...

You're the problem that makes these things thrive! Stop playing!