Bad Marketing Idea?

Mark_Warner said:
Meh...he's just a guitar player.
Click to expand...

Sure, and its obvious you must play A LOT of GUITAR HERO!!

Ok. I think this is the smartest thing you could do to promote this game, I mean. Is cool, is Fun and is "Guitar Hero" Above a Guitar Hero. What else can you ask for? Simply genious.
Now in my personal opinion I must say I'm not surprised. Its the common sense thing to do if you know your market and what it is made up, from the stand point of these guys: A bunch of human cattle that can't make a difference in this world except making a ridicously hugue amount of small contributions to the fortunes of the guys that run these bussiness. This just reminds me that Dialog line in MIB where Tommy Lee Jones responds to Will Smith while they are sitting in a bench and Willy is having second thoughts about aliens and human not knowing: "The Human Individual is a sentien conciouss and inteligent being. Human as a whole are just a bunch of cattle."

I say that you get what you ask for, which is not always what you deserve.
 
nakedhand said:
Nothing new in this concept of mutual abuse. He was a great musician and I hope I am right in assuming that he would have found this insane and ridiculous. Advertising like this, makes me turn away from the product in disgust, its demeaning to his legacy. Not that I would ever pick up that "tap the pads in various combinations" game anyway (ready to get flamed by the fans.. ouch.. I know its not easy!)

So what is next? Mozart equipped with two x 1210s and Einstein pitching [brand name] Sudoku?
Click to expand...

Its just the signs od the times, the time of Sunset for Western Civ and of Dawn for Eastern again.
 
its disrespectful for what/why hendrix played. shame on those bastards, i hope someone drags them through the gates of hell by their intestines...
 
OK, sumarizing. It's obvious than any of the guys here that post unconciously about Jimmy, etc. Which I must say I cant respect them very much from what they transmit in their posts, have obviously no idea what music is, even more what actually playing the guitar is. And if they do then something must be amiss within them.
It's not about Jimmy the Human, the womanizer, the drug addict, the guitar genious, the recording genious. That dude is Dead from a long time ago. It's about what he symbolyzes and epytomizes in your Culture, I mean shame on You!!! I'm not even Northamerican and I'm saying this. But I'm a Westener and I love my heritage. But I guess you must have some cultural conscience beyond videogames, marketing, tehcnology and money to be able to grasp the decadence of your so called culture.
I mean its no Irony they didn't wanted this 101 Airborne exmember in his country when he was alive so he had to go to England to make a Career. In short it's obvious you guys in the bottom of your collective conscioussness are not much different of the rest of the inhabittants that live in this continet called America. Most of you are just Hollow. So that's why you get what you ask for my dear Circus going Romans.
 
I personally think it's a shame...Jimi Hendrix revolutionized boundaries of Rock and other offspringing genres as we know them today...he not only changed the way you could play guitar but sonically stretched music to a new level...how could you not give him respect...no he's no diety but but defintely a Guitar God...certaintly undeserving of being associated with Guitar Hero...because it's funny there would be no Guitar Hero game without Hendrix
 
Sniviler said:
Its fucking JIMI HENDRIX not jimmy... if JIMI were alive he would endorse guitar hero as long as it came with 13 hits of ACID and a half OZ of weed.

IF 6 WAS 9 I DON'T MIND.
Click to expand...

NEW: Guitar Hero 3 JIMI HENDRIX Edition - available at college dorms and weed spots nationwide... *LOL*

On topic, i'm sure Jimi wouldn't see any harm in it were he alive, and if you're gonna name a game "Guitar Hero" you may as well equate it with one............. Now, had they done some type of graffiti to do this as opposed to stickers, i'd say it was wrong.... Stickers are harmless in this case.
 
IMO, yes, it's in poor taste and very tacky.

The article doesn't say whether or not any permissions were obtained or who actually owns the statue and/or allowed it.

To this day, Elvis Presley is a marketable commodity and I'm sure his estate would not allow any unauthorized use of his name/image for commercial purposes. But even if Hendrix's estate were to force a "cease and desist" order, the damage (or rather, the viral marketing, has already been done). OCP put it on the front page and people are talking about it. That's what Activision wanted.

I play classical guitar. Recently my husband's buddy brought over his Wii and Guitar Hero, so I was curious to check it out. I found it unrelated to anything having to do with musical skills and don't see that this game does anything in that area. It reminded me more of Tetris, where pressing the buttons at the right time in the right sequence gives you a higher score.
 
While I have never much listened to or cared for Jimi's music (not a knock, just wasn't my taste, absolutely no offense is meant), I cannot help but sit here and wonder to myself: just how many guitarists in history have some form of statue honoring them?


But, here's my own take on it, on something I can say I fond of both of them:

I am not 100% certain if Jim Clark (or Senna, etc, if you wish, but I was thinking of someone who's been gone since the 1960s) has a statue anywhere honoring him, but I am fond of watching his footage, and feel he's a great figure in the history of his sport.

I am very fond of Trackmania, and find it a very fun arcade racing game. Not exactly a simulation at all, but it doesn't need to be an exact simulation of racing to be great fun. And without Clark's history to get me interested in racing, I doubt I would have been bothered with Trackmania.

So I'd say the one caused me to be more interested in the other.

But:

If Nadeo came out and started slapping Trackmania stickers on Jim Clark monuments, I would think they were absolute f-ing idiots...

So, simply put, I tried to come up with the closest parallel I could think of that I could have some emotional reaction to, and behold, apparently it would offend me...

Odd thing is, like I said, I like Jim Clark, and I love Trackmania, but using Clark's image or memory to help sale Trackmania, regardless of the one causing interest in the other, just seems out of touch...

Then again, maybe Clark would have been a fan of TMUF, and would have told me to stop being such a wanker?

But, without them around to approve, I'd rather the two not go together...



(ps: FWIW - I chose TM over other sims as I figure that TM is to an auto racing simulation what GH is to actual guitar playing. Even Slash himself says he sucks at GH as he hears the music and wants to put his fingers where they actually belong on a guitar to hit the notes... Can you imagine Piano Hero being played on a keyboard? Chopsticks on a keyboard, what a riot... But, maybe fun...)

(With my luck, watch Piano Hero come out, being played on a keyboard, in the next yr... Unbelievable...)

Percussion Hero would rule though. Why isn't there one yet!? Pretending I'm Lars Ulrich pounding out For Whom the Bell Tolls... I have almost no interest in GH, but I'd buy Lars Hero in a heartbeat!
 
Anytime I see the name, the image, or even the very legendary status of a musical PIONEER being abused in this way for the satisfaction of financial greed without their consent, it makes my blood boil. Obviously these people gained their celebrity status and all the money and fame that went with it, and naturally they will forever remain in the minds of those who have an appreciation for what they've contributed to the world of music. Bach, Mozart, Chopin and the like are hardly forgotten, centuries after their careers and their lives ended. And yet, no one is going to dare to insult these masters of art and make a "Pipe Organ Hero" or "Orchestra Hero" series, and slap a dot com address on their painted/sculpted images. I would imagine that the modern music pioneers of this century and last, would be honored much greater by being remembered in the year 24xx than be put down as yet another artist who got their shit ganked into a corporate feeding trough.

So for me, reducing their image down to a button mashing video game is insulting to their memory, no matter how hard it is. Its insulting what they've done, and the inspiration they were for the bands that are willingly endorsing the game now. These bands that endorse the game now would not even be around were it not for people like Hendrix. The difference though is, these bands (or at least its living members, to my understanding) CONSENT to having their stuff associated with it. Otherwise if they haven't, they're really fucking slow on the uptake to filing lawsuits over royalties and what have you. Like a couple years slow. Moreso when there are covers being done of their stuff for those that didn't want their exact songs in it.

Even if Hendrix would have been a fan of the video game, desecrating the symbol of his contribution to the world of music like that, is not a proper way to go about it, regardless of whether or not he's a deity. and some will say "Oh Hendrix did nothing special". Yeah, some people aren't fans of Sinatra, Elvis Presley, or BB King either.

I think its piss poor marketing. A good idea, implemented very poorly. You cannot have one of the people who paved the way for modern music to be shaped into what it is today, become associated with a game that essentially has nothing to do with what such a legend has done, and that is to have the balls to be original instead of sounding like everyone else.
 
Marketing fucks should all be shot. They have no accountability for their actions and continue to invade every possible niche of our lives like goddamn cockroaches. No respect, at all, ever, for such a horrific profession.
 
eddietx said:
Absolutely SHAMELESS, TACKY and HEARTLESS. Hendrix memorial is for HIM and HIS fans, not a self center company. Activision you have gone to far, and lost a customer.
Click to expand...

Shameless and tacky is not $5 worth of stickers on a statue. Shameless and tacky is building a fucking statue of a man that contributed nothing to the world beyond getting high and playing a guitar.
 
pfunkman said:
Shameless and tacky is not $5 worth of stickers on a statue. Shameless and tacky is building a fucking statue of a man that contributed nothing to the world beyond getting high and playing a guitar.
Click to expand...

Congratulations.
 
pfunkman said:
Shameless and tacky is not $5 worth of stickers on a statue. Shameless and tacky is building a fucking statue of a man that contributed nothing to the world beyond getting high and playing a guitar.
Click to expand...

I was gonna see something but then I realized you are not worthy. Is amazing how broad the concept of human can be, but there you go you're entitled to your opinion and to communicate what kind of person you are. Too bad the one that you're bashing can't since he's dead.
 
My take. Haven't really read any of the other posts:

I do find it tacky. Not because IMO Jimi Hendrix is some sacred cow or some such. But for me, simply out of respect for the dead in general. No, I assume this statue isn't at his gravesite, but even so I do think a basic level of respect should be shown. That and they could have done something other then his actual statue, even erected a mock up one in a different location in the same city. That..and although I suppose his estate can give a thumbs up, the man himself isn't around to state if he'd condone such a marketing use either. So there is that too.
 
pfunkman said:
Shameless and tacky is not $5 worth of stickers on a statue. Shameless and tacky is building a fucking statue of a man that contributed nothing to the world beyond getting high and playing a guitar.
Click to expand...

And you're saying your post is the height of class then? :p
 
Enduring_Warrior said:
I was gonna see something but then I realized you are not worthy. Is amazing how broad the concept of human can be, but there you go you're entitled to your opinion and to communicate what kind of person you are. Too bad the one that you're bashing can't since he's dead.
Click to expand...

I would rather be the kind of person i am than the kind that puts a known junkie so far up on a pedestal that he believes he deserves a freakin statue.
 
Wow PFunk, that's mighty ignorant of ya.

Next, some developer will slap a "Desert Warfare Extreme" (or whatever it will be called), sticker on a U.S. President's statue and think it's cute\funny....

If you can't respect the dead, you have little chance of respecting anything. Not that that's so uncommon anymore I'm afraid.
 
Havoc One said:
Wow PFunk, that's mighty ignorant of ya.

Next, some developer will slap a "Desert Warfare Extreme" (or whatever it will be called), sticker on a U.S. President's statue and think it's cute\funny....

If you can't respect the dead, you have little chance of respecting anything. Not that that's so uncommon anymore I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

So by your logic were supposed to respect them just because their dead?

And im supposed to be the ignorant one?
 
I don't see why everyone is up in arms about this. Jeez, it's not half as bad as the stunts Akklaim used to pull in the day (remember the tombstone one?). I actually think it's pretty lighthearted and clever. I laughed when I saw the picture. It's not mocking the man and it's not cheapening his achievements.
 
The fact that everyone is freaking out over this is just goes to show how sad this society really is.

How DARE someone place a sticker on the statue of your favorite drug-addicted perma-stoned guitar player!!! Who the fuck cares. He got stoned, he played music. He's right up there with the dancing monkey you see on the streets in India.
 
Nemesis999 said:
The fact that everyone is freaking out over this is just goes to show how sad this society really is.

How DARE someone place a sticker on the statue of your favorite drug-addicted perma-stoned guitar player!!! Who the fuck cares. He got stoned, he played music. He's right up there with the dancing monkey you see on the streets in India.
Click to expand...

How DARE you compare a drug-addicted perma-stoned guitar player with the dancing monkey!?!? I hope the monkey takes a dump on your head!! :D

Well, unfortunately this is good marketing. Just look at all the posts.

But I do think it is poor taste to put stickers promoting products on statues of dead people.

It's ridiculous... playing any musical instrument is an art -- a heck of a lot different than holding a button down while flicking another.
Click to expand...
I respectfully disagree with your statement.

I have been playing guitar for the last 5 years, but nothing really artfull about that, and for sure I am no artist.

As a matter of fact, not really different, just more skill, than playing guitar hero.

Now, if I were to actually, "create" something with my playing then I think that would be art.

So you could have great guitar technique and not be an artist, and you could be a crap guitarist and be a great artist.

just my opinion ;)

@Enduring_Warrior, I just feel sorry for you, if you actually ment your statements. They are pathetic and worse than the stickers on the statue.
 
@Enduring_Warrior, I just feel sorry for you, if you actually ment your statements. They are pathetic and worse than the stickers on the statue.
Click to expand...

Too many people in this world take actions to the extreme for no reason other then spout opinion.

I wonder how many people here claiming this is an atrocity could name off more then 10 jimi hendrix songs off the top of their heads?
 
nakedhand said:
Let us hear your top five then :)
Click to expand...

stevie ray (go look up some of hendrix songs played by stevie ray, i have yet to find one that isn't better, little wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAG-kX_IlUw)
clapton (i know you'll all get pissed at me for saying that, but face the facts)
allman
bbking
satriani, just to give you a little virtuoso

after that i'd probably still put
santana
gilmour and page
probably eric johnson
even george harrison in front of hendrix....

the experience was more than just hendrix, now if you want to talk bands, then things get reversed... i'd put the experience over somebody like cream.... mainly because i think mitch mitchell kicks ass and ginger baker blows

i'm not talking style, or even technical skill, i'm talking the greatest guitarists of all time, the mixture and correct combinations of all of these things
 
goodcooper said:
stevie ray (go look up some of hendrix songs played by stevie ray, i have yet to find one that isn't better, little wing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAG-kX_IlUw)
clapton (i know you'll all get pissed at me for saying that, but face the facts)
allman
bbking
satriani, just to give you a little virtuoso

after that i'd probably still put
santana
gilmour and page
probably eric johnson
even george harrison in front of hendrix....

the experience was more than just hendrix, now if you want to talk bands, then things get reversed... i'd put the experience over somebody like cream.... mainly because i think mitch mitchell kicks ass and ginger baker blows

i'm not talking style, or even technical skill, i'm talking the greatest guitarists of all time, the mixture and correct combinations of all of these things
Click to expand...


None of the above would be anywhere with out Jimi's influence.And they all have said it time and time again(with the exception of Gilmore) He was and always will be the greatest player that ever held a guitar.

George Harrison doesn't even belong in that list. And Clapton.please....
 
dont lower jimi to your standards activision

youve introduced another pos electronica press-a-button instrument into this world

In the near future some dickhead will propably make something like this and we'll have a new wave of wanky dj's butchering classic songs
 
poor taste imo. A video game is a fad. Jimmi Hendrix is a legend. Ten years from now people will consider those who put the stickers on vandals and defacers.
 
OK...I see where the arguing over Jimi Hendrix is clouding the issue....let's pretend it WASN'T JIMI HENDRIX FOR A MINUTE.

Let's say, it was your FAMILY.

<insert big game corporation here> is promoting their new Zombie game and, after getting the permission from the cemetery YOUR FAMILY is buried in, advertisers put stickers and shit all over Mom and Dad's headstones to promote "Day of the Zombies."

It is flat out tasteless. Those people that say it isn't...well, they probably don't have a problem with mom and dad's gravestone being defaced to make a buck either.


The company could have EASILY just printed up huge ginormous banners with a Photoshop of the statue with the GH logo shit and displayed it next to the real statue and got 10x more visibility and the *wink* *wink* Jimi plays GH thing would have been accomplished without being disrespectful.
 
Steve said:
OK...I see where the arguing over Jimi Hendrix is clouding the issue....let's pretend it WASN'T JIMI HENDRIX FOR A MINUTE.

Let's say, it was your FAMILY.

<insert big game corporation here> is promoting their new Zombie game and, after getting the permission from the cemetery YOUR FAMILY is buried in, advertisers put stickers and shit all over Mom and Dad's headstones to promote "Day of the Zombies."

It is flat out tasteless. Those people that say it isn't...well, they probably don't have a problem with mom and dad's gravestone being defaced to make a buck either.


The company could have EASILY just printed up huge ginormous banners with a Photoshop of the statue with the GH logo shit and displayed it next to the real statue and got 10x more visibility and the *wink* *wink* Jimi plays GH thing would have been accomplished without being disrespectful.
Click to expand...

haha I see where you're going. It all depends on the nature of the advertisement.

My mother is a huge Mickey Mouse freak and she would instantly consent to allowing Disney to advertise their wares on her grave. If only you knew what a Disney nut she is. There's nothing in the world that's Disney that she doesn't have, and she'll turn away nothing too.

But I do see where you're getting at.
 
Steve said:
OK...I see where the arguing over Jimi Hendrix is clouding the issue....let's pretend it WASN'T JIMI HENDRIX FOR A MINUTE.

Let's say, it was your FAMILY.

<insert big game corporation here> is promoting their new Zombie game and, after getting the permission from the cemetery YOUR FAMILY is buried in, advertisers put stickers and shit all over Mom and Dad's headstones to promote "Day of the Zombies."

It is flat out tasteless. Those people that say it isn't...well, they probably don't have a problem with mom and dad's gravestone being defaced to make a buck either.


The company could have EASILY just printed up huge ginormous banners with a Photoshop of the statue with the GH logo shit and displayed it next to the real statue and got 10x more visibility and the *wink* *wink* Jimi plays GH thing would have been accomplished without being disrespectful.
Click to expand...

No. It's a statue at a place he played at. It's not his GRAVE SITE. His ashes arent there either. It's not sacred ground. There is a BIG difference.

I'm more upset there aren't MORE stickers! Have you played GH? It comes with at least 15 more! Slap those on there too.
 
I'm a musician and I have great repect for Hendrix. I view the guitar itself as a piece of art- However, that cheap plastic thing is an insult. "Guitar Hero" is to me a symbol of all that is wrong with humanity. That was BEFORE they slapped one in Jimi's hands. It is offensive on so many levels.. My daughter was making noises about "needing" one of those blasted things. I may have tolerated it before but that's out of the question now.
 
I don't think those stickers are any worse then the gum, birdshit or vomit which tends to collect around publicly placed statues. More then likely the signage was removed after the shots/promotion was completed, unlike the gum, birdshit and vomit. As far as a rock guitarist being offended by promotion of their music or person I seriously doubt they'd give it a second thought. Now since this particular guitarist is deceased and has a notable reverent fanbase to take up arms for him this sort of promotion is a bad thing.. I mean you have to treat their memory differently then you would treat them if you actually met them right? You wouldn't want to have a jam session with Jimi would you? You'd want to sit and fucking pine for him till he gets sick of you and walks away in disgust.

Either way it was clever "enough" marketing.
 
Kind of ironic that they use a legendary guitarist as an advertisement for a game that requires no skills related to guitar playing, just button mashing....it's just sick...and not in the good way.
 
Netrat33 said:
No. It's a statue at a place he played at. It's not his GRAVE SITE. His ashes arent there either. It's not sacred ground. There is a BIG difference.

I'm more upset there aren't MORE stickers! Have you played GH? It comes with at least 15 more! Slap those on there too.
Click to expand...

Statues memorializes a person. It's no different from having done at on his gravestone.
 
Trimlock said:
I wonder how many people here claiming this is an atrocity could name off more then 10 jimi hendrix songs off the top of their heads?
Click to expand...

for reference.....
Bold as Love
Castles Made of Sand
Voodoo Child
Purple Haze
Are You Experienced
Hey Joe
Wind Cries Mary
All Along the Watchtower
Johnny B Goode
Last but CERTAINLY not least, his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner

Personally I think its pretty slimy to attempt to sell products by defacing a statue of an artist with such an acclaimed body of work....
 
Trimlock said:
I wonder how many people here claiming this is an atrocity could name off more then 10 jimi hendrix songs off the top of their heads?
Click to expand...

How many people could name off 10 hendrix songs off the top of their heads and claim that this was perfectly acceptable? Not many....
But that doesn't make anyone less entitled to their opinion.;)
 
Activision is all about bad taste when it comes to gimmicks to sell their games. Several years ago to promote "Gun" they had a poker tournament in gave yards that used people's death dates to make good hands.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top