Bogost- Chapters 5-7

Chapters 5-7: Advertising through Videogames

This section of the book deals with advertising and the use of advertising within videogames. To begin, Bogost describes how advertisements and consumer response to them has changed. He presents “the notion that media and cultural images have become more real than reality” (148). In other words, people have begun to judge their world as it compares with the “ideals” proffered by the variety of media outlets. He further states that freedom of choice (in this instance among products) is not actually possible. This is described as “each consumer decision signifying another advertisement, not an actual lifestyle, social, political, or personal decision” (148). The media influence on modern society has created a culture of “hyperconsumerism” whose purchases are no longer based on “needs” but are increasingly motivated by “wants.” In addition to the changes in the motivation for purchases, consumers have changed the way they view and interpret advertisements. Advertisers now use a method called “permission marketing” in which “the consumer {has} to ask for the advertisement” (150). The most obvious example of this is seen when visiting a website and being offered the chance to receive emails regarding sales or product news relating to the product or store being viewed.

Bogost describes three types of advertising: demonstrative, illustrative, and associative. “Demonstrative advertising provides direct information”(153). It gives the consumer “the features and functions” of the item and often contains a large amount of text with an image displaying the item as it could be used (154). “Illustrative advertising communicates indirect information” (154). They tend to focus on “both the tangibles and intangibles” of the item as well as presenting it within “a social or cultural context”(154).  This type normally does not contain much text and the item is shown in a realistic setting. “Associative advertising communicates indirect information, focusing specifically on the intangibles of the product.” It does not describe the functionality of the item, but is focused toward a “niche market” and portrays the attributes of that group as being exhibited by the product. Associative advertising is geared toward meeting the wants of the consumer rather than a specific need.

The form of marketing that seems to lend itself most effectively to “advergames” is demonstrative advertising. With this method, the item is presented “in its natural context” and allows “the consumer to interact with it” (159). The procedural nature of videogames allows a consumer to interact with a product within a realistic context. By integrating the use of an item, in a realistic way, into the rules of a videogame, the player is forced to become familiar with the various functions of the product. They are able to use the item for its intended purpose within an appropriate context. This gives a much clearer understanding of the benefits and limitations of the item. Not only can this serve to promote sales, it can also be used by corporations to demonstrate the way a product works to people who may have no need to purchase the item. An example of this is John Deere American Farmer. Through the game, non-farming players learn how the equipment is used by farmers which may lead to a change in the players’ perception of the farmers and farming. In addition to games designed specifically to promote a particular product, commercial games can contain “product placements.” The procedural rhetoric of the game “makes claims about what the product does, and it contextualizes that functional value in a transferable social situation” (196).

Though some advertisers claim that product placements in games “always add realism,” some game publishers do not want them in their games. This has led some advertisers to choose to create their own games to promote their product. One example of this is Johnson and Johnson’s release of Tooth Protectors, a game promoting oral health products that they manufacture. In the game, the player must fight off “snack attackers” who drop pellets of food onto a row of teeth at the bottom of the screen. If a tooth is hit three times it will disappear, simulating the cycle of tooth decay, and the only way to recover the tooth is through the use of a “full-regimen tooth cleaning” (201). By showing the link between eating and the necessity of oral care, the player is prompted to view “dental care as logical system” (203). This promotes purchase and use of the products shown in the game.

Some corporations have created games not to promote a product or service, but to persuade the player against it. These “anti-advergames” serve to “expose the logic of corporate and governmental structures and invite players to question them” (230). It allows the players to examine possible causes for customer discontent through examination of corporate policy and structure.

Discussion Questions:

1.      Is realism in videogames necessarily a good thing? Does the use of videogames as an “escape from reality” suggest that players want a less realistic game?

2.      Would the use of a specific product in a video prompt the player to purchase the item if it is not a purchase they wanted to make?

3.      Can using a product in a video game serve to illustrate the less desirable aspects it possesses? Or would a manufacturer even allow their product to be used in a game that could present these shortcomings?