The Sony PS3 thread (apparently *still* obnoxious!)

[Snakey]

A little perspective here people? It's not an article, it's a supplemental advert that's been paid for by Sony

Ah...

Is this made obvious, though?

[Flabio]

If it's an advertising suplement it has to state it is. I'm not sure this one does.

And there's a world of difference between bigging up your product, and dissing the competition.

[gilesgoat]

A little perspective here people? It's not an article, it's a supplemental advert that's been paid for by Sony, of course it's going to be rabidly pro Sony and disparaging towards it's competition. What else would you expect? That's what adverts are for.

I notice nobody's complaining about the similar Nintendo advert that came with last months issue.

Pay us an we'll publish whatever shit you want

[gilesgoat]

If it's an advertising suplement it has to state it is. I'm not sure this one does.

And there's a world of difference between bigging up your product, and dissing the competition.

"Welcome to the world of COMPETITION and 'mine is better than yours' " ...

[Flabio]

I'm fairly sure that you're not allowed to criticise a rival product directly in an advert under UK rules. Hence all these 'when compared with a leading brand' type ads.

So if it's an advertising feature, it's in breach of the ASA code. If it's not, it's really biased journalism.

[Snakey]

Very good point.

I was wondering actually, if it's not just a paid for advert, whether the massive bias has anything to do with Jeffs previous article, and Edge trying to get back in Sony's good books

[Gorecki]

A little perspective here people? It's not an article, it's a supplemental advert that's been paid for by Sony

Ah...

Is this made obvious, though?

I thought so, but then I've been an Edge reader for years. They do these kind of puff pieces quite regularly, most new consoles get one (I'm fairly sure both the 3DO and the Atari Jaguar got ridiculously optimistic write-ups) and Nvidia have had a several in the last few years.

And there's a world of difference between bigging up your product, and dissing the competition.

Agreed. And that's pretty much Sony in a nutshell at the moment, isn't it. A fantastic product that's being marketed by arrogant half-wits. Hopefully we can forget all that when the games start arriving.

[offyoutoddle]

if you think its in breach, report it to the ASA, but judging from adverts in recent years (although no examples come to mind right now), you can say what you like about competitors products, as long as its not libellious.

[gilesgoat]

I'm fairly sure that you're not allowed to criticise a rival product directly in an advert under UK rules. Hence all these 'when compared with a leading brand' type ads.

So if it's an advertising feature, it's in breach of the ASA code. If it's not, it's really biased journalism.

Well in Italy law does not allow "comparative adverts", you CAN'T explicitely
state "my product X is better than product Y" that would be againist the law.

You can say "my product is better than all the rest" but it's a bit silly and
actually not many do that.

Better to say "my product is good because" and "I think my product is better
because" without
necessarely pointing fingers at Y,Z or W.

You don't need, is "implicit" you are meaning "better than anyone else".

[gravy]

You can say what you like about competitors products, as long as its not libellious.

Yeah you can, it just doesn't go over very well in the UK so advertisers don't tend to do it here.

[Hajile]

A little perspective here people? It's not an article, it's a supplemental advert that's been paid for by Sony, of course it's going to be rabidly pro Sony and disparaging towards it's competition. What else would you expect? That's what adverts are for.

I notice nobody's complaining about the similar Nintendo advert that came with last months issue.

And once again the fact that Nintendo have done exactly the same thing does nothing to stem the 'Sony are evil' tide. That particular nugget of info gets entirely ignored, oddly. Wonder why?

[Marius]

Because Nintendo is good and Sony is evil

[Hajile]

Because Nintendo is good and Sony is evil

Isn't that a Mii Avatar you've got there?

[PumaG]

A little perspective here people? It's not an article, it's a supplemental advert that's been paid for by Sony, of course it's going to be rabidly pro Sony and disparaging towards it's competition. What else would you expect? That's what adverts are for.

I notice nobody's complaining about the similar Nintendo advert that came with last months issue.

And once again the fact that Nintendo have done exactly the same thing does nothing to stem the 'Sony are evil' tide. That particular nugget of info gets entirely ignored, oddly. Wonder why?

Nintendo
"you'll have fun playing our system"

Sony
"Our machine is 50 times more powerful than xxx" "xxx is already old gen" "you must buy a Blue Ray player(we are not making enough money from DVDs, and stopping ripping MP3s you filthy scum)"

[Roobarb]

Or in pictures:

Nintendo


Sony


Sony have produced some lovely kit blessed with many great games, but the way they've approached the marketing of PSP and PS3 has mostly just made them look like a bunch of pompous arses.

As for complaining about the Edge PS3 advertorial (if that's what it is) and not the Wii advertorial (if that's what it is), well i don't believe anyone used the Wii Edge supplement as justification for why the Wii is so great, and presumably nor did it consist of mostly just slagging off the competition.