Sony sinks to new lows.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:19 am

http://www.popgadget.net/2005/11/sony_psp_corpor.php

I doubt this is just some kid trying to show his love of the PSP as there have been sightings all over the country.

Either Mr. Stringer gets off whatever crap he's smoking (rolled up turds, I guess) or he passes some to share.

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:40 am

Ugh, sounds convincing. So Sony stoops to street gang levels now...can't wait until they're knocked from the top.

CMoon · Post by **CMoon** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:40 am

Haha, if you read further, Sony isn't the first company to pull this stunt.

Also "I saw the leftmost one myself, in Silver Lake in LA last weekend. It had already been scrawled over with some anti-Sony reactions."

Can't see this getting them anywhere. What's with the kid licking the psp?

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 1:57 pm

Am I the only one thinking there's nothing wrong with this?
It's just a somewhat new (well not quite but for most ppl it looks new) way
of image building and sneaky commercials.

If I recall correctly, there was a somewhat similar way of advertising around the release of Crazy Taxi for DC in the UK. With streetteams posting stickers to lampposts and whatnot. It's just a way to go out of the set marketing media and reach another consumer target group...

I'd hardly call this a "low", and I am not even close to being a Sony fanboy (far from it actually).

CMoon wrote: What's with the kid licking the psp?

He probably finds it D-LICIOUS... (am not into US (or other) urban slang, but that should mean it's "cool", right!?).

umi · Post by **umi** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:30 pm

That is... so cool :P Mad props to whoever did that, Sony or otherwise. I don't even like the PSP...

jp · Post by jp » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:59 pm

I LOVE the PSP commercials.

PSP falls in some guys hand... he throws it away.
Another guy catches it... plays it for a few secs... throws it away.
Repeat
Repeat
Repeat
The original guy catches it again and looks at it in distress.

At least Sony is honest.

benstylus · Post by **benstylus** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:14 pm

jp wrote:I LOVE the PSP commercials.

PSP falls in some guys hand... he throws it away.
Another guy catches it... plays it for a few secs... throws it away.
Repeat
Repeat
Repeat
The original guy catches it again and looks at it in distress.

At least Sony is honest.

I just saw that one the other night and I was rolling with laughter.

Anyway back on the subject of the graffiti - it's obvious that Sony is involved in this - if it was one location they might be able to say it's just someone who really loves the PSP, but it's the exact same art showing up in cities all around the country.

I have no problem with legal advertising, but when they're vandalizing property that's going too far. What's next? Maybe they'll have people throw a brick with that art painted on it through your window. Or maybe they'll take it a step further by breaking into your house, and replacing your Xbox with a PS2.

I hope they are prosecuted for this and the sony executives are sentenced to doing 100 hours of community service or something. Would be pretty funny to see them in their suits and volunteer vests painting over graffiti...

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:23 pm

I would like to punish them by having all the property owners dress up like Snow Bros. and pelt Sony executives with radioactive boomerangs that turn them into balls of marshmallow.

I dunno why... but it just made me think of that.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:28 pm

heh I'm going to be laughing when slashdot replaces their M$ hating crusade with a $ony hating jihad.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 4:10 pm

Is it true: Any publicity is good publicity? Ask Terrell Owens. The answer is: No. That was pathetic of Sony in my mind.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:05 pm

Doesn't bother me inthe slightest.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 6:26 pm

I've actually seen this grafitti around where I live (urban Chicago). It's the exact same stencils and everything. I thought it was weird but I didn't consider it too much.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:02 pm

Doesn't bother me inthe slightest.

Perhaps it doesn't bother you because you are deeply cynical and think that advertising and marketing have already targeted us in nearly every way they can, so who cares? Yes, in this instance it involves defacing private/public property, but things are so ugly and filled with comercials already, what does it matter?

Well, I'm probably even more cynical than you are, and I still say: pathetic.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:06 pm

If I were to promote a business or product I sell by tagging art all over the city, the cops would have a word with me. Does it make it any different because it's Sony?

Advertising is ok. Defacing public property to advertise your product is not.

The only other company who could have come up with crap like this is Acclaim. Anyone remember when they offered money to the surviving family of a deceased person if they let them put an ad for ShadowMan on the tombstone?

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:01 pm

Maybe it's the conspiracy theorist in me, but somewhere in the back of my head I have to wonder whether it might actually be one of Sony's competitors putting this stuff up, to make Sony look bad...most likely it IS Sony who's behind this (I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised, certainly), but whoever it is I'll bet it'll do more harm than good to Sony's PR...if they haven't been sabotaged, they've certainly shot themselves in the foot.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:58 pm

Sony may also have permission from the buildings they decorate.

Acid King · Post by **Acid King** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:34 pm

professor ganson wrote:
Doesn't bother me inthe slightest.
Perhaps it doesn't bother you because you are deeply cynical and think that advertising and marketing have already targeted us in nearly every way they can, so who cares? Yes, in this instance it involves defacing private/public property, but things are so ugly and filled with comercials already, what does it matter?

Well, I'm probably even more cynical than you are, and I still say: pathetic.

I think it's stupid too but it's not enough for me to go on an anti-Sony jihad. Anyone living in pretty much any city will tell you that artists, musicians and record labels have been doing stuff like this for years. It didn't bother me then and it really doesn't bother me now. What makes it stupid is that a gigantic multinational ultra corporation like Sony would use this kind of advertising. Just buy some goddamned advertising space, it's not like they're hurting for money and this is the only way they can promote themselves.

SheSaidDutch · Post by **SheSaidDutch** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:40 pm

professor ganson wrote:
Doesn't bother me inthe slightest.
Perhaps it doesn't bother you because you are deeply cynical and think that advertising and marketing have already targeted us in nearly every way they can, so who cares? Yes, in this instance it involves defacing private/public property, but things are so ugly and filled with comercials already, what does it matter?

Well, I'm probably even more cynical than you are, and I still say: pathetic.

hmm It really all depends on how much per volume of the advertising that goes around.

professor ganson · Post by **professor ganson** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:59 pm

Acid King wrote: Anyone living in pretty much any city will tell you that artists, musicians and record labels have been doing stuff like this for years.

That's interesting to hear. Apart from one year in New Haven CT, I've spent the last 15 years of my life in college towns. Pretty out of touch with city life atm.

Neo Rasa · Post by **Neo Rasa** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 3:59 am

Rockstar did this the cool way and put that AWESOME Warriors mural on Coney Island.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 6:02 am

BulletMagnet wrote:I have to wonder whether it might actually be one of Sony's competitors putting this stuff up, to make Sony look bad...

If that was the case, all Sony would have to do is come out with a statement categorically saying they have no links to the graffitti, and then let the obvious finger pointing begin at their competitors.

The n00b wrote:heh I'm going to be laughing when slashdot replaces their M$ hating crusade with a $ony hating jihad.

Unlikely since Microsoft actually did it first:

Article
Wednesday, November 21, 2001 - 3:00 pm

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
By: Andrew Hornery

Oops! You've just stepped in a Microsoft-sponsored "street spray" - one of hundreds of green crosses spreading like a virus on Sydney's footpaths. Street spray is the nice way of saying corporate-sponsored graffiti - or cheap advertising - and there is a whole heap of it getting up the noses of Sydney councils.

South Sydney Council is planning to slap a $300 fine on the perpetrators to cover the cost of removing each logo in their area. The fluorescent green crosses, with "TM" trademark logos, have cropped up on footpaths all over Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane over the past fortnight, promoting Microsoft's new games system, Xbox. "It's a teaser campaign," said Xbox's general manager, Alan Bowman. The graffiti campaign was about getting its target audience talking, he said. "The street campaign is about creating a bit of intrigue, and mystery. We have hired a third-party company to do the street sprays ... I can't remember who they are, but we have not sprayed the X in areas where the councils are known to be strict about these sort of things. I haven't heard of any councils being upset by the logos."

Spin Communications, which has co-ordinated much of the campaign, including hiring the graffiti artists responsible for the crosses, was also unable to identify which company sprayed the logos. However, a Spin spokeswoman, Blair Earl, said the logos would wash off "after a while". But South Sydney Council's spokesman, Damian Furlong, said the logos took six months to completely fade. "We are absolutely outraged. We've got fairly new bluestone paving up around Taylor Square, and they've sprayed that. "This is an orchestrated and expensive advertising campaign by Spin Communications, a company which holds itself up to be a pillar of fashionable respectability. We intend to injunct Spin Communications in the Land and Environment Court ... we are holding them responsible for the cost of removal at $300 an item."

Sydney City Council was equally unimpressed. "Ratepayers and residents have already paid millions of dollars for new granite paving ... it's not there for commercial exploitation," said the council's spokesman, Craig Middleton.

dai jou bu · Post by **dai jou bu** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 7:11 am

I guess Sony's marketing division played a little bit too much Jet Set Radio.

Acid King wrote: Just buy some goddamned advertising space, it's not like they're hurting for money and this is the only way they can promote themselves.

On the contrary, Sony's been in trouble for a long time already. It's just that their gaming divison's success has been loud enough to drown out their other problems.

Woah, I didn't know this information was that old.

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 11:07 am

I heard the new Network Walkmen do support MP3 through a firmware update. Heck, even the latest version of Minidisc supports MP3 playback without conversion, though there are some rolloff issues. Of course, being Sony, you can't just do drag and drop. Must use their software, but it's better than no Mp3 and crappy ATRAC @ 128k for everything.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 8:17 pm

Thunder Force wrote:If that was the case, all Sony would have to do is come out with a statement categorically saying they have no links to the graffitti, and then let the obvious finger pointing begin at their competitors.

In one of the above links I think it was said that Sony's stated that it knows nothing about any of this...heck, even if they're lying you know they had to have said that or else pretty much admitted they were behind it.

Post by **Ghegs** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 3:48 pm

From http://www.pspupdates.com:

Sony spokeswoman, Molly Smith, discusses the PSP street advertisements in an article at wired.com. This last week, cities such as New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami are targets of the Sony sponsored street advertisements. The advertisements were sprayed on buildings that was first approved of by the owner. One co-owner was paid $100 for a two week use of their wall. Smith explains that the Sony advertisements cater to “urban nomads, people who are on the go constantly,” because the PSP is portable. San Fransisco residents do not like the graffiti on their walls, but it seems they will only be on walls for a two-week duration.

The article on wired.com

Salem Witch Trials! · Post by **Salem Witch Trials!** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 4:32 pm

I don't think Bulletmagnet's "conspiracy theory" sounds all that far-fetched. I know next to nothing about advertising, but even I would have known that advertising with graffiti wouldn't make the company look very good, especially since the way the kids' eyes look makes the PSP look like some kind of fucked-up drug. And even though its possible, I doubt an idea like that would get a good response from professionals in sony's marketing dept. Seems more likely to be one of their competitors.

JBC · Post by **JBC** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 9:32 pm

Good thinking... it could very well be a rival just trying to make them look like dicks...

I still want to kick their ass Snow Bros. style though. Just cause.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 4:02 am

Heh, well, if the article linked above is accurate (no reason to think it's not), then it seems that Sony did put those up there after all...however, it notes that 1) they did pay for the "advertising space," and 2) it'll apparently only be up there for a few weeks. So it's not exactly "sinking to a new low," methinks, just a backfiring ad campaign, heh heh.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 11:06 pm

as Iunderstand it, that "graffiti" is in fact egal in every case. Sony pays the stores and places fo rthe right to put that graffiti up there. They are not vandalizing. they'd never vandalize.

Sega did the same stunt with Crazy Taxi, people. and you all love sega, right?

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:20 am

Until now, it wasn't clear that Sony had paid. Wasn't Jet Set Radio the one about graffiti?