Great Moments in Game Advertising, Part 3 – Celebrity Endorsement

The great thing about MMO / online game advertising is that allows for so much creativity.

Or if that fails, copying a known character and have them endorse the title by virture of proximity… then hope the original IP owners don’t see it.

This has a very strong resemblence Marvel's White Queen character

"The White Queen demands your submission... and some time to play her favourite greek mythology simulator!"

Okay, the White Queen may not be Marvel’s most well-known character, but she’s a bit of a fan favourite in certain circles for obvious reasons.

Her actual superpower doesn't involve bows; it involves not needing double-sided tape to keep that costume on.

The fact that I typed in "Emma Front" rather than "Emma Frost" likely reveals those obvious reasons. Or just what I was thinking of at the time. You decide.

There’s also the cash in on what’s popular right now:

IMVU's Twilight-inspired advertising

The part of Bella will be played by Bob Stevenson, a 47-year old twice divorced mechanic from Grants, New Mexico.

And then sometimes all subtlety is completely dropped and it’s just obvious grab:

The God of War box art for the Playstation 2 title

You may have heard of this guy called Kratos before...

Batheo is pimped by Kratos from the God of War series

That artwork is actually from the front of the God of War: Blood & Metal CD.

This does appear to be something Batheo has engaged in more than once.

Are 'mythological gods' really that big a selling point?

One thought on “Great Moments in Game Advertising, Part 3 – Celebrity Endorsement

  1. From Wikipedia:

    White Queen may refer to:

    * The white Queen chess piece
    * White Queen (Through the Looking Glass), a character in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass
    * The White Queen, a holographic computer from the film Resident Evil: Extinction
    * White Queen (comics), a number of comics characters
    * White Queen, a skilled thief in the Nick Velvet series by Edward D. Hoch
    * Lacus Clyne, a character of Cosmic Era (only referred to as White Queen in Gundam SEED Destiny)
    * “White Queen (As It Began)”, a song in the rock album Queen II by band Queen
    * White Queen, a novel by Gwyneth Jones
    * “Reine Blanche” Claude Njiké-Bergeret, the daughter of missionary in africa who married a local king
    * The White Queen, a novel by Philippa Gregory

    Although you’re clearly right in attributing it to the Marvel character it would make for a lot of deniability in a court of law. White Queen as a phrase clearly isn’t copyright, girl in white bikini isn’t copyrightable either, both together? Hmmm…

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