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Retrogaming and TV Commercials:
Selling to the Video Game Generation
by Kevin Steele
May, 2004
Nostalgia sells – just look at the number of
nostalgia shows on TV, such as “That 70’s Show,” “I love the 80’s,”
and more. As the “arcade generation” grows older and our earning
power grows, nostalgia becomes a powerful marketing tool as well.
A recent influx of commercials themed on classic
video games seems almost inevitable in hindsight, and yet it has
been a pleasant surprise to catch a glimpse of a classic video game
or theme while channel surfing. Here are a few retrogaming-themed
commercials that have recently been shown...
“Asteroids” by
Hummer
The Hummer Attacks!
Click Picture to View Commercial (Quicktime MOV format)
Synopsis
Big. Aggressive. Unbeatable. These are the key
points of this retrogaming commercial, which opens with a standard,
if somewhat boring, game of Asteroids. (Note: as a retrogamer, I
have to cringe at the player’s lack of “skillz,” but hey, it’s just
a commercial!)
Anyway, back to the “plot” – suddenly, the
familiar sound of an incoming small saucer is heard, but instead of
the familiar saucer shape we see a silhouette of a Hummer. It goes
straight for the player, whose shots prove useless against the
bright oncoming vector outline.
The player’s ship quickly turns and flees, with
the Hummer hot in pursuit. Cut to exciting real shots of the Hummer
racing along desert highways.
Analysis
I guess Asteroids is a good theme for the Hummer
SUV, based on the “Humvee” personnel vehicle used by the US
military. Still, the commercial seems to be giving the wrong message
to me: If you want to be a big, indestructible aggressor, buy this
SUV.
Of course, I’m not an SUV man myself, so I may
not be the target audience. Still, it frightens me to think that any
portion of the US population would think along these lines…
“Pinball Fantasy” by
Ford UK
So This is What Being A Pinball Feels Like
Click Picture to View Commercial (MPEG Format)
Synopsis
Now this is more like it! A truly dizzying
tour-de-force in computer graphics puts the Ford Fiesta auto into a
pinball machine, bouncing and dashing about while racking up massive
points.
Um...that’s about it for the plot, but honestly,
who needs more?
Analysis
Okay, this one really nails the feeling of
playing pinball. Things bouncing around, lights flashing, and
bleeping, binging sounds all to a rock music background. The imagery
is amazing, and I just want to go play pinball every time I see this
commercial.
(Click
here if you'd like to see a larger video of this commercial,
thanks to Beam TV)
There's also a very interesting
"making of" article online about this commercial that details
the extensive amount of work that went into creating it. I've got to
hand it to them — the results are absolutely stunning, and it really
seems to have been created by someone who understands and loves
pinball.
Heck, the commercial even makes the Ford Fiesta
look good!
“Pacman” by
Saturn
Gotta Get 'Em All
Click Picture to View Commercial (Windows Media 9 Format)
Original Copy of Video Compliments of "Ant"
Synopsis
A Saturn Vue pulls out of a driveway to a road
filled with floating white dots. “Power Ups” appear down the road,
in the form of a rotating grocery cart, a child with a giant purple
alligator, sporting goods, and a child with a soccer ball.
Each power up fills another section of the
vehicle ’s interior. After all the dots and Power Ups are collected,
the car returns home.
Analysis
Yet another car commercial, yet this one really
infuses the video game aesthetic with the day-to-day grind. Dashing
around endlessly picking up things — yeah, that’s what my life feels
like sometimes. With the exception of the fact that the car should
be yellow, the commercial is true to the spirit of Pac-Man and the
target audience of anyone who spends their day running errands.
Conclusion
I have to admit that I really like the fact that
retrogaming is showing up on the pop culture radar these days. You
almost get the feeling that retrogamers are gaining a bit of “street
cred” (or at least some sort of visibility!) While it’s a
bit disappointing to be targeted by advertisers, this sort of
presentation makes the marketing message go down a bit easier.
Now if they’d only use Robotron in a commercial…
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