Ubisoft's little, white, Splinter Cell advertisement lie

April 18th, 2006, 03:46 Posted By: wraggster

News from PSPFanboy

Everyone knows advertising is biased. If the whole point of creating an advert for a product is to drum up hype (and therefore sales), then chances are companies will try their darndest to make sure their baby’s put in the best light possible. There are laws that protect consumers from outright fabrication, but what if the ad is only sort of telling a fib?

Case in point: Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell Essentials ad. The advert was called to 1UP’s attention, and things at first glance do look dubious indeed. The statement “One of the best games on the PSP” made by GameSpy was culled, they discovered, from a preview the gaming website did months before the game was released. While said preview was indeed hopeful of the game’s kick-assery, it instead was given a swift kick in the ass by their later review.

The article states that no response has yet been received from either Ubisoft or GameSpy about the ad. We’re guessing this’ll be one of those “oops” things; someone’ll get smacked on the wrist and the ad will disappear with reputation and advertising relationship intact. What’s your take on this? Do you think Ubisoft’s gone too far, or do you think what they did is justifiable?

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