I was sitting in front of the TV one night, flipping through the
channels and saw some freestyle jumping on ESPN. While I am firmly
convinced that people who do this for a living are brain damaged, it is,
nonetheless, entertaining in a bizarre way. Then a commercial came on
and I figured this would be a good time to head out to the fridge for a
beer.
What I saw next
froze me in my tracks. A vile looking
punk, laced with body piercings and covered in tattoos, leapt across the
screen on a dirt bike. The animated figure proceeded to cut a swath
through everything in its path, and culminated with blasting some cute
little bunnies with rocks and mud, then setting the pristine forest on
fire. The last part of the commercial told you how to get your copy of
Freekstyle and go home and enjoy it on your Playstation 2. Playstation?
That meant this crap was designed for kids! During the next
two weeks, I saw the offensive commercial at least another dozen times.
They played it on some MTV type stations and, of course, during the
so-called extreme sports you see on many sports stations. By this time, I
was not simply pissed-off. I was in an advanced state of pissed-off.
What made this even worse was that EA Sports, the people who produced
this pile of slime, were also the prime sponsors of the AMA Supercross
Series. Where was the AMA?
Why no loud protests from the American Motorcyclists Association? Were
they too busy crowning the Motor Maid of the Year? Or were they occupied
with calculating how to keep other brands from competing fairly with
Harley-Davidson in the flat-track racing scene? Either way, I
found it almost incomprehensible that the AMA had not even written a
letter to CYCLE NEWS complaining about the offensive commercial and the
accompanying wretched game! Other people did, and CYCLE NEWS printed a
slew of protests from outraged off-roaders, including an impassioned
plea from the Blue Ribbon Coalition, the conscience of our sport. I decided to go
right to the root of the problem and left three messages with the AMA
voice mail. No calls were returned. Since I've been a veritable thorn in
the side of the AMA for a few decades, I expected no less. Next, I accessed
the EA Sports web site and got the name of some official-type people. I
crafted a blistering e-mail and ... well, you read it: Subject:
RE; YOUR RECENT AD
To: Jillian Goldberg-Director of Marketing, EA Sports -
jgoldberg@ea.com
From: Rick Sieman
Editorial Director, Off-road.com Ms
Goldberg ...
No doubt, by now, you have received feedback about your
offensive ads for the FreekStyle video game tied-in with EA
Sports. Let me
get right to the point: Rarely, have I ever seen such a bonehead
maneuver from a major company. Here you have moto-thugs setting
forests on fire and throwing roosts of mud and dirt on cute
little animals! Is there
anyone in your company with common sense? I've been in the
editorial end of this business for over 30 years (Editor/founder
of Dirt Bike Magazine, Editor Modern Cycle, Editor Off-Road,
Editor Old Bike Journal, etc., and have worked hard to salvage
something of the image of off-roaders. And here you are, in one
outrageous ad, blowing all of our work out of the water. You're
glorifying the punks and scum of the sport, and tossing fuel on
the fire to start a stampede of public opinion against all the
"normal" riders out there. Single-handedly,
you could cause all sorts of land closures and legislation that
could cripple our sport! Now,
before I sit down and write a blistering editorial that will
reach all of our 5.75 million readers at Off-road.com, I'm going
to give you the chance to respond. Rick
Sieman
Editorial Director
Off-road.com |
Well now, I
thought. That ought to stir up the old pot a bit. Sort of like throwing
a rock at the hornet's nest, so to speak. After a few days
passed, I got an answer, but not from Ms Goldberg, who obviously thought
this was not important enough to handle herself. Instead, she passed the
job of answering me to Jeff Brown, a person who works for her. I can
just picture the scene: Brown, take care
of this. I'm going to be busy working on the new EA Sports Action
Child Molesters Game for 2003.
So, for what it's
worth, here's the response I got from Mister Brown. In it's own way,
it's a classic. Call it pure, 100%, unadulterated BS. From:
Brown, Jeff - Corp. Comm [mailto:JBrown@ea.com]
To: rick@off-road.com
Subject: RE: YOUR RECENT AD Mr.
Sieman,
Jillian Goldberg forwarded to me your note on our advertising.
We appreciate the feedback, even when it's from people who
aren't happy with something we did. In this case, the ad has
completed its cycle and is no longer running on television. Like many
videogames, this one is based on fantasy and was not designed to
be reflective of your business. I don't mean to be argumentative
or to tell you that you've misunderstood the elements of the
commercial. I'll only
say that the spirit of the game and the commercial is in keeping
with popular style of television cartoon. People who like video
games and that type of entertainment generally understand the
difference between cartoon mischief and the very serious issues
behind arson and animal cruelty.
Sincerely
Jeff Brown
Electronic Arts |
This wimpy reply
made me run to the kitchen for a cold adult beverage, then settle in
front of the computer and calm down a bit before crafting this reply to
the vague Mister Brown: To: Jeff
- Corp. Comm Brown" <JBrown@ea.com>
Subject: YOUR RECENT AD
Mr. Brown,
Your reply, sir, does not address the issues. Almost
single-handedly, your company has done irreparable damage to the
sport of off-roading. At this point, you feel that by having the
ads "run their course" that all your incredibly foul
actions will just go away? I think
not. The
offensive games are still out there and still being sold. You
will continue to reap profits from marketing literal trash. Apparently,
Ms. Julian Goldberg does not think this is a serious enough
issue to merit her attention. So, she assigns it to an
underling. That would be you. From this
moment on, I hesitate to continue any diatribe with you, or even
Ms. Goldberg. Perhaps we ought to communicate with your
immediate superiors (i.e: your bosses) via the legal process. Do
you want this? By all
that's holy, Mr. Brown, you cannot simply blow this off as
"cartoon mischief" and "entertainment." Your
company produced a tasteless - and truly harmful - game that
glorifies violence, thugs, destruction of the environment,
arson, felonious actions and activity that young minds might
think is "cool" and then emulate. You have
done massive harm to a sport, and to the industry that supports
it. Worse, you have taken the medium of video games and
literally endorsed behavior that would get any person who
follows your lead thrown into jail. I went to
your site and explored it. After repressing my vomit reflex,
I can assure you that shaved headed punks with the word
"PAIN" tattooed
inside their mouths are not exactly role models. And what
about people with no helmets or safety gear, doing insane jumps?
In the front of every magazine published, you'll find warnings
and disclaimers to NOT DO DANGEROUS AND STUPID THINGS, and here
you are, glorifying it! Astonishing! What's
next from EA, Mr. Brown? Video games of black people being
dragged behind pickup trucks down country roads, while you rack
up points by having leering rednecks shoot at the victims? Or
maybe you can have a video game where a gang of dirt bike thugs
beat up senior citizens while they're camping. Extra points for
riding over kids and pets. Why not?
Seems like it's the EA-way. Am I
getting through yet, Mr. Brown? Now,
unless you want a backlash of major proportions from the
off-road industry (which I personally will spear-head) here are
some demands that I suggest you pass on to management: - Take
the offensive game off the market.
- Issue
an apology in writing for running the ads and creating the
game.
- Make a
sizeable contribution to a group like the Blue Ribbon
Coalition
(BRC) to help un-do the damage your company wrought. - Agree
to have any future off-road games produced by EA Sports
reviewed by the BRC, or Off-Road.com, for suitability,
before they are released.
Now, this
would make your company a responsible citizen, something you
might find refreshingly different. My
editorial deadline for the article I will write about this is
Monday. I expect to have some sort of reasonable response from
you, or someone with some authority within EA, by this time.
If not, then the proverbial fan will be hit, and I'll leave it
up to EA management to clean up the resultant mess. Flying dung
is not a pretty thing. Rick
Sieman
Editorial Director/Off-Road.com |
Time passed.
Enough time, in fact, to realize with startling clarity that EA Sports
had no intention whatsoever of answering me, or meeting any demands. Therefore, I have
decided to ask the millions of readers of Off-Road.com to assist me in
making life miserable for EA Sports and their line of trash games.
Let them know what you think. You already have the direct email
connections to Ms Goldberg and the redoubtable Mr. Brown. You can
contact all kinds of EA officials by going to www.easports.com and
letting them know what you think. I wandered around
the site and could not find Freekstyle until I did a search for it.
Interesting. Just about every other game they sell is listed right out
front, but you have to search for Freekstyle. Could it be they're
ashamed of it? Why, how could they be, with stuff like this in the promo
area: "Freekstyle!
For Playstation 2. Filled with comic mischief and mild language. It's
the most dangerous motocross game around and dares you to harness the
power of your bike while pulling off sick stunts in insane ..."
And so forth.
My friends, how
about taking some time out of your day and contacting EA Sports and tell
them how you really feel. Should you be polite? Why bother? Were they
decent to the off-roading community? Hell, give them both barrels. One last thing: I
humbly suggest that EA Sports change their name to EASS Sports if they
keep coming up with bottom-feeder trash like this. This is all just
my opinion, and I could be wrong. But my track record indicates that I'm
more than likely right. Thanks for
listening.
Rick Sieman
Just another dirt bike rider |
