Check those roots, they're already brunettes.

"They were not appropriate for our brand. The original site has been taken down this morning."

i'd say the branding was entirely appropriate. who buys NFS games? chavs, innit.
/sweeping generalisations ftw

"Hopefully they will be replaced with naked brunettes, who would lend a much more intelligent-yet-mysterious air to the advertisements, which I feel would be completely appropriate for their brand."

Here, here!

In this case, I believe this story is NFSPS.

Hurr.

Pizza's alright, but this is the uk so to really pull in the key market you want the girls holding a kebab dripping in chilli sauce or one of them smearing Vindaloo over the other.

@AnonymousNoob:
*high five*

Need for speed. Need for boobies, how dare they say that those dont go together!

Seriously. Who did they think they were marketing to? Poland?

How incredibly stupid. EA, take a lesson from the Republicans the last two terms and choose your target.

Let me explain. Traditionally, American politicians go after the mythical "Undecided Voter," the guys in the middle that theoretically could come out and sway the vote to them. They didn't concentrate on the people they considered to have "in the bag."

However, the Bush campaign concentrated on the people that already agreed with them, but never got off their asses to vote. They needed to put out inflammatory arguments and positions to make them believe that if they didn't get out to vote, everything they believe in would be destroyed by gay married aborted fetuses wanting to burn flags instead of celebrating Christmas.

The concentrated on an intended audience that would likely buy this (males, 18-30 years old.) Now, they back pedaled in an attempt to get a wide audience and are afraid to offend a punch of prudes that wouldn't buy the game anyway.

And the arguement that the Wii is so successful by marketing to everyone doesn't hold weight. They aren't marketing to gamers, they are marketing to non-gamers who don't traditionally game. They are marketing to people who are a fresh, new audience. It just so happens that a lot of gamers share similar tastes.

It's basically how when women first got the chance to vote. Legal aged voting turnout of women was almost 75%. Now that the idea of being legal to vote is something that has been around for a while, the turnout is more like 18% like every other demographic.

Know your audience, and market toward them. You'll be a lot more successful that trying to pull a John Kerry and be bland as dry toast in an attempt to not offend anyone.

I wonder what kinda tool gets offended when seeing (gasp!) nude breasts on a porno website. The humanity.

Wait up a minute, is EA saying that their primary brand demographic is not horndogs between the ages of 14 and 30? Yeah, that's a massive heap of bullshit.

And you know what? EA's cowardice in this matter infuriates me.

I hereby announce that I am refusing to buy another EA developed video game until they reinstate this website and/or create a similar advertising campaign for another game (it must feature breasts).

You hear that EA? You just lost my custom! Let's see a small time company like you try and survive without the cash given to you by me and my 30 friends!

You just lost big time monies you puritan bastards! Do you hear me? You just lost BIG TIME MONIES!!!

@BtownDesignGuy:

Wow, so many mistakes on my part. Let me correct the most offending paragraph.

"They(being EA) concentrated on an intended audience that would likely buy this (males, 18-30 years old, that enjoy boobs and cars.) Now, they back pedaled in an attempt to get a wide audience and are afraid to offend a bunch of prudes that wouldn't buy the game anyway."

@PapaBear434:

And another mistake!

BtownDesignGuy, I have no idea why I posted it to you. I was suppose to quote myself.

I'm going to take a nap now.

Did you guys receive my mail on their new viral called 'Nevoie de viteza'? That's Romanian for Need for Speed. Posted it on my own blog yesterday: [www.vgvisionary.com]

I just missed the pics (couldn't follow the link before this morning); Bummer. But brunettes? Sounds like an improvement.

And yet only a few years ago NFS:underground was advertised on the basis of having a former playboy model in it (see [www.ea.com])

That advertising was about the only thing someone at EA did right in years and then the execs go and squash it like they do with everything good...how unfortunate now i just cant bring myself to buy NFS

@PapaBear434: Wow. Boobies. Republicans. Wouldn't have made that connection.

But all joking aside, didn't the Democrats also target people who agreed with them about things like the war and health care? The real issue may have been that, for the most part, Democrats know that a large and disparate group of minorities agree with them, whereas the GOP knows a large, central majority agrees with them. Not trying to pick a fight, I'm just curious, is all.

To bring it back to the topic of the post: I guess they deemed this marketing inappropriate for their brand, because most racing games are rated as appropriate for minors (is it E-10+ that most NFS games get?), and with all the controversy surrounding adult-themes in games that are actually rated to be played by adults, they probably didn't want to invite similar controversy over a game that would be marketed to minors as well as adults.

It just sounds like a case of the left hand not asking the right hand for approval before it photographed a couple of naked women posing in front of a sports car, to me.

Don't worry about accidentally pointing responses to me. I remember a conversation I had with you under another screen name, and enjoy reading your comments, so it's all good.

"We apologise again for the fault in the marketing campaign. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked."

What no more boobs? Now I don't even know what game they're advertising anymore.

Was anyone able to save the original page?

Why, oh why?!?!?!?!
Oh well. I'm still waiting for a real AO games industry. Instead of Stranglehold bundled with HK movie, you'd get "2 on 1: Reactivation" with some AO movie prequel...

How in the world does EA fund the creation of a site full of topless pictures to promote a game without approving it first? Surely they knew it would be "not appropriate" before getting the pictures done.

I suppose this doesn't really need pointing out, but nothing ever "slips through the approval process." If you've ever worked in marketing or advertising or pretty much anywhere with anything, this simply doesn't happen. There are about 1700 layers of approval for anything an ad agency and its client so much as sneezes at. You don't somehow manage to hire models, a stylist, a photographer, a studio, a designer and actually have the images vetted and posted for something that "slipped through the approval process." Like a whale through a sieve. Not possible.

@aldo_14: Yeah, I thought about the marketing for Underground, too. I kind of feel like Underground was a brand in and of itself, and that Pro Street will be a very different brand. I kind of get the impression that the new brand will not involve as much illegal activity as before. Things like that.

If they're shooting for a wider audience, then yes, topless women sends a message contradictory to what the game itself was trying to say.

But, hey, I haven't even played the demo of the game, and I could be totally wrong, and I'd be more than happy if someone corrected me.

It's nice to see the pointing fish again.

@BtownDesignGuy:

Well, they TRIED, but they did it in an unoffensive way. While the Republicans were calling them pussies that were siding with the terrorists, Kerry was busy chasing his own tail trying to shake off the fact he may or may not have went to a protest rally when he was a young man because that might offend some folks.

Stupid. But my point is that they knew who they were going for, and didn't care if those who wouldn't agree with them anyway were offended or not. I think this is how EA started out with this campaign, and back tracked as soon as they heard a murmur of protests from the "think of the children" crowd.

Personally, I think if the worst thing my daughter sees is a naked tit, she'll be doing just fine.

If the game was actually like than Romanian video,I would buy it in a heartbeat. That actually showed some creativity,unlike "Need For Speed 43: The Need For More Speed".

They took down Nakie and Gropie? Shucks, I loved those gals... :(

The demographic for NFS? I had a horrible vision of it the other weekend. I try to avoid games stores on Saturdays, but the wife was buying clothes so I sauntered in to take a gander and overheard the following conversation between two "youfs" of about 11.

"Def Jam. Yo. This game is wicked innit. You can stick a guys head down a toilet."
"Ah man, Need For Speed, this is so wicked. I'm so gettin dis."
And then the finale when they were standing in the queue near the budget PC titles...
"This cheap **** is always stuff no-one has ever heard of, WTF is 'Flight Unlimited'"

Jesus wept.

SAT Analogy Time!

Big Fake Tits are to Erotica as EA is to Games.

I'm just posting because, with my avatar, I feel the need to post on any jubblies related story. However, I will make the comment that I would prefer to live in a world where naked women are more representative of a brand than deranged psychos and blood-bath related games.

lulz. I knew EA wasn't getting cool.

I used to like NFS as a good arcade type racer (i've never been into racing sims) and after i played the pro street demo i know im never going to buy it. F realism i want bouncing of the walls arcade!

@BtownDesignGuy: I think he was only referring to the presidential elections, not including the 2006 congressional elections. And health care didn't really push into the limelight until after the 2006 elections.
As for the Democrats, well, no one knows what the hell they're doing (or not doing). Instead of "playing to their base" like the Republicans and trying to motivate people who agree with them to come and vote, they always seem to put on a fake smile and spend all their time making bullshit "compromises" like "Oh, you want to stay in Iraq indefinitely? We'd prefer an immediate withdrawal. So why don't we compromise on five years? No? OK, how about ten?" Pfffffttttt.

They do that to try to convince the "undecided" voters to vote Democratic. Needless to say, since all they're really saying is "We don't believe in our own principles! Vote for us!", it's none too effective.

(Forgot that part)

'Most Wanted' was alot of fun. Zero interest in 'Pro Street'.

EA would like to retract their previous statement and release a new one:

We we never cool.

Crap. I'd meant to check out those pics after work last night. I'm sure they'll turn up elsewhere, though... ;)

@erlik: You seem to have gotten lost on the way to Fox News.

@PapaBear434:

Nintento is doing a great job at getting these nongamers to game. Because if they (the people) had a brain they wouldn't be buying the Wii. It's definitely an inferior gaming device. It's a shame ms and sony isn't doing a better job at persuading nongamers. They both are targetting gamers, which they already have and no need to waste advertising dollars on.

@jayntampa:

I really like your avatar...is that yours? :)

The could have just changed the name of the game instead. NSFW: ProStreet

"Drivin' in my car, livin' like a star…"

man i love the fish today. that is so funny. [:

@Canadian Impostor: No, you've got it all wrong. I'm a liberal Dem upset at all the "Look at us, we're wimpy Centrists" nonsense. It goes without saying that Dems are preferable to Repubs in office, and there IS a difference, but they're mostly useless to me until they grow a pair and turn hard to the left.

Anyway, I didn't really intend to make this into a political thread, so let's get back on topic: Bring back the boobies! I liked 'em.

Umm... Didn't we cover this topic on here yesterday? Ah yes...

[kotaku.com]

@erlik:

Yeah, that's my bad. I was simply using it as an analogy, and didn't mean to divide people. That's why I made sure to rip on both sides. I don't think much of either side, personally, and think they're equally as corrupt, just owned by different companies.

My point was simply that EA seems to have forgotten to whom they are trying to market.

@veritasvierge: Ummm, did you read the story? Read both. Then compare and contrast. We'll wait here.

Next time try the reading thing first.

I've gone from my "oh" face to my sad face.