4 Jan, 2012
Modern Warfare 3 is known for toeing the line of offensive material, but their ads aren’t really known for being offensive. However, one former U.S. Army Special Operations Command paratrooper found the latest ad “The Vet & The n00b” extremely offensive, pointing out that the ad “trivializes combat and sanitizes war.”
“[The ad] is so base and strident that it’s hard to believe that it’s not deliberately offensive,” wrote D.B. Grady on The Atlantic. “The game crossed the billion dollar sales mark in only 16 days, [so] clearly its marketing strategy is working. But none of that makes it okay, or mitigates its tastelessness. The advertisement trivializes combat and sanitizes war.
“If this were September 10, 2001, maybe it wouldn’t be quite so bad. But after ten years of constant war, of thousands of amputees and flag-draped coffins, of hundreds of grief-stricken communities, did nobody involved in this commercial raise a hand and say, ‘You know, this is probably a little crass. Maybe we could just show footage from the game’.”
Grady then said that while the ad glorifies war and makes it look like a “gritty Disneyland,” soldiers like Sergeant Timothy Gilboe received a Silver Star for heroism during combat, and there was no howling or cheering at all. In an attack on his platoon, Sgt. Gilboe pulled the barrel of an insurgent’s AK-47 towards his chest, which was protected by armor plate. According to the Army News Service, Gilboe’s last thought before the trigger was pulled was, “This is gonna hurt a lot.”
Grady went on with Sgt. Gilboe’s account, saying that while the sergeant was wounded, he still fought the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until someone else was able to make the fatal shot. Even then, still wounded, Gilboe provided first aid, set up a security perimeter, and helped with the evacuation. The point is that war is gritty, people died, and there’s no celebration on the field. There’s no cheering as a grenade is launched, there’s no fist-pumping, there’s no howling in triumph. There’s no time for someone to say “Watch and learn,” and there’s no time to don a pair of sunglasses.
“Here’s how the Modern Warfare 3 commercial ends,” wrote Grady. “Two smug, A-list clowns strut towards the camera, rifles hanging over their shoulders, explosions consuming the city of New York, and then the words: ‘THERE’S A SOLDIER IN ALL OF US.’
“No, there’s not.”
Here’s the full “The Vet & The n00b” ad:
To read Grady’s full article, head over to The Atlantic.
Via MCV.
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