Kotaku
Sony threw a party with a dead goat. You may have heard. Anyways, as the source of the ALARM was the less-than-credible Daily Mail (or to be precise it's Sunday edition the Mail on Sunday), we figured it was best to get both sides of the story before beheading Sony's PR and feasting on their insides. SCEE just got back to us, and (in summary) had this to say:
- The party was held on March 1, and attended by around twenty European journalists (none from the UK).
- The actual article in the Official PlayStation mag was written by a guy who wasn't in attendance; the piece was done on the basis of the party's invite, "which employed a degree of hyperbole in order to encourage attendance".
- The goat in question had already been killed (ie it wasn't killed at the party), and had been sourced from a local butcher.
- The goat's "entrails" were actually bowls of traditional Greek meat soup. At no stage was anyone allowed to touch the goat, nor did anyone eat or drink anything from inside the goat. After the party, the carcass was returned to the butcher.
- SCEE say that they first saw the photo last Thursday and immediately ordered it to be pulled from the magazine, and on Friday Official PlayStation Mag agreed. The magazine never reached general circulation, but subscribers did receive the issue with the offending picture included.
- SCEE closed by saying: "We are conducting an enquiry to establish the circumstances behind the event in order to ensure this does not happen again. We also apologise to anyone offended by the article in the OPSM."
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So the party was held nearly two months ago and twenty journalists were served traditional soup. That doesn't excuse Sony - a dead goat is still a bit off - and it definitely doesn't excuse OPSM, but it's hardly the orgy of decadence the Daily Mail and now other media outlets would have you believe, either.
If you're interested, the full SCEE statement is after the jump.
Hi Luke,The event did take place, in Athens on 1st March. Approximately 20 journalists from European countries attended the event from a variety of gaming and lifestyle media - although none were from the UK.
The article in UK Official PlayStation Magazine (OPSM), from which the Mail on Sunday article was sourced, was written by a journalist who did not attend and done on the basis of the invitation for the event, which employed a degree of hyperbole in order to encourage attendance - the journalist chose to take it as fact!
The photograph was one of many supplied to the magazine to provide a balanced view of the event. Unfortunately, the article was sensationalised and focused on a picture that was unrepresentative of the wider event.
When we saw the article for the first time on Thursday of last week we contacted the Publisher of OPSM who accepted that the article was not appropriate for their broad audience. On Friday, before we had received
any contact from the media, they agreed to remove the centre page article before the magazine goes on general sale.The event was a theatrical dramatisation with a Greek mythological theme and, as part of the set dressing, a dead goat was sourced by the production company from a local butcher. Following the mainstream popularity of shows such as 'I'm a Celebrity, Get me out of here' a series of challenges were set for the journalists. The 'warm entrails' referred to in the invitation and in the Mail on Sunday article was actually a meat soup, made to a traditional Greek recipe and served to attendees in china bowls direct from the caterers. There was never any question of journalists being able to touch the goat, or indeed eat the soup direct from the body of the goat, as one report has alleged. The goat was returned to the butcher at the end of the event.
We recognise that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves. We are conducting an enquiry to establish the circumstances behind the event in order to ensure this does not happen again. We also apologise to anyone offended by the article in the OPSM (subscription copies were sent out ahead of street date).
Nick Sharples
Director of Corporate Communications
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Comments
This happened two months ago, but people are getting upset now? dubba you tee eff
For what it's worth, traditional Greek Easter soup is indeed made with intestines.
It tastes as good as it sounds.
Once again, the Daily Mail is as always, pure embarrassment. Which is why it sells to the irrational and confused.
Hopefuly people remember this and other past Daily stories the next time they talk about video games. Don't read, and you will be better off for it.
OMG they got it from a butcher, people need to calm the fuck down.
Whats so wrong? It's not like we don't eat animals.
Its been ages since I had any curried Goat !
Phew, this kind of press conference sure is more interesting to be at and listen than other those that are filled with empty promises and long boring talks(Nokia is the best example).
People and journalists will remember this(isn't this what PR should do?), and of course while being a bit brutal, what y2julio said is true.
Sony trash talk is like an old joke; those old jokes are funny when they are new :)
Well, it looks like Sony's "All I want for Easter is a decapitated goat" campaign is off to a great start. What up with Cousin Pete's new outfit though?
@Sanguis_Malus:
mmm... mutton curry *slurp*
anyway, i find it weird that they actually rented a dead goat
They also managed to cramp in a 'review' of God of War II. Main complaint? It's violent.
Typical Mail.
Everytime I thought, "Nah, Sony PR can't possibly do worse" they prove me wrong.
I await the next Sony PR stunt. It'll probably be another round of "Nah, they can't be that stupid" => click on link => "Ooops, Einstein was right about stupidity"
Isn't the outrage to do with the add that appeared in the subscription version of the magazine. It is essentially promoting PS3 with a bloodied man standing over a decapitated sheep and holding a clever. That's not exactly the image you want your kids to see is it.
The moral of the story is, once again, do not report on stories from the Daily Mail or is related publicatoins as though they are true. It's the Mail, for Chrissakes, their default headline is "Immigrant ASBO teens ate my baby for Islam".
"Isn't the outrage to do with the add that appeared in the subscription version of the magazine. It is essentially promoting PS3 with a bloodied man standing over a decapitated sheep and holding a clever. That's not exactly the image you want your kids to see is it."
It's not an advert. It's a picture that the magazine writer attached to a story about a press junket which he didn't attend. Didn't you read the story above?
Yeah ok i don't really see anything so wrong with this. Daily mail just over exaggerated like any other tabloid. :|
HA-HA Daily Mail in reactionary "Ban This Evil Computer Game (bought for children by its very readers) Shoka!"
The only surprise for me is that its not for Manhunt after all. Come to think of it though the idea of killing "Scum", "Murderers" and "Nonce's" (one for the brits there then) is probably in keeping with the real life views of its target audience.
The fact it was for a 2 month old marketing campaign makes much more sense to me.
Sony of course would have admitted if there were a huge blood and guts orgy going on. Sony screwed up. They knew they screwed up, hence the pulling of the mag before it hit newstands. What needs to occur now is for someone who was at the party to say what exactly happened.
I thought it was funny when people that the guy in the photo looked like Mark Cuban.
Anyway, I hate goats. Never liked them, never will. It must be those evil eyes they have that weird me out...
Good job it was the Mail, and therefore vaguely credible.
If it had been The Mirror, then Sony would have killed it with their bare hands.
If it had been The Sun, then it would have been a terrorist ritual to abolish computer games, encourage mass illegal immigration and give all the female journalists huge boobs.
british papers make me giggle. seriously, the stuff that is commonly read is utter garbage. the real papers then have to fluff up their prints with dvds and posters. thought they once did have a trial version of WOW
OK, I have some complaints about this, the general reaction and so forth.
It is clearly cultural differences and the lack of empathy for other customs.
Why is it wrong to teach children we kill animals for food? Is good of war not the most violent game, violence that we do not need to understand.
In the US, it is taboo to talk about how burgers are made but the news pumps out killings of humans. But no, no animals were hurt during the making of this show. PETA Wins, crazy people respecting animals more than human. This is of course not restricted to the US, The northwest of Europe has similar ideas.
My guess is the greeks are confused when they hear the outcry, especially that it is too violent.
They still had a decapitated goat on the scene. That's not something I want to see when I go to party or open up a magazine. They deserve all the bad PR they get.
Whatta hell is up with people...are you all a bunch of whining militant vegetarians? Give it a rest...if you go to your local pub or wherever you probably can catch a glimpse of a carcass as well! Whata hell makes this so controversial? A dead goat straight from the butcher was viewable at an event for a gory game...big fucking deal!
@MartenKL: You have the taboo thing all backwards. In the US, we talk about "killing humans" on the news because it makes us uncomfortable and that is what people want to see on the news (murder, war, etc.) We do not talk about killing animals because it does not make us uncomfortable and no one cares. IE, the majority of people do not give one sh!t if they hear how burgers are "made."
That's why organizations like "crazy PETA" exist, to perhaps maybe make people think about the ass-fat greasy slaughterhouse burger they just ate.
@Sockatume:
I though Sony pulled the picture from the official playstation magazine. The subscription version still has it (My nephew subscribes) but, the shelf versions doesn't. Not sure what the daily mail had to do with anything, apart from pre-printing the picture and pointing out what a stupid way to promote a kids toy it was. They (the mail) didn't make the picture up though. It did appear in the official magazine!
No mention of the topless serving girls?
THat is a little awkward to have a real dead goat at your party.. I would be a little weirded out. But the fact it has taken this long for anybody to react says something - that it really shouldn't be a big deal, and the way Sony did it, it really isn't.
Games, however violent, aren't real (unless you are Jack Thompson). Dead goats are real. Putting a dead animal in a public video game event offends good taste, as Sony admitted.
We expect better of Sony. It's not a company run by rednecks. Or maybe it is.
When was the last time any of you had a company party about a product launch that featured titties and a dead goat?
Didn't think so...
It's totally inappropriate, and that's why people are upset.
@penhalion:
God of War II isn't a 'kids toy'. It is rated for 18 and above.
@Valee:
It wasn't a public event. It was a private PR event for journos. Even the OPM journo who wrote the piece did not attent, much less anyone from the Mail group.
The really mind-blowing thing about this isn't the entire event, just that Sony managed ANOTHER PR mess-up. It's incredible. I don't know how any one company can mess up like this with such regularity.
I don't get it either. At which point do they say enough is enough?
No other Kotakuites read the Daily Mail? I think it's a fantastic paper for its unbiased hatred of everybody. Young, adult, OAP, black, white, green, yellow, christian, jew, muslim, pagan, agnostic, satanist, immigrant, naturalised, poor, rich, homo/hetro/pan/bi/transexual. Hates them all and thats what makes it so much fun to read. You get the article on "Why London mosques breed hate" with an article right next to it decrying an assault on a immigrant family.
I'm gonna dig out the Sunday paper and see where it glorifies the PS3 or computer games in general. It'l be there or the world will break. Probly only about 4 sentences long.
Maybe Sony should think about hiring a better P.R. company or at least getting them to roll out faster when a paper prints something up that stinks of muck
@SpaceWhale:
The really mind-blowing thing about this isn't the entire event, just that Sony managed ANOTHER PR mess-up. It's incredible. I don't know how any one company can mess up like this with such regularity.
I would say that this proves that they don't even have to mess up. Some rag-tag tabloid calls them out on wild accusations that only minutely hold true and it became a fiasco two months after the fact. What this tells me is that Sony whose PR fails half of the time, and has to deal being the popular whipping-boy the rest of the time.
The hack that wrote the article wasn't there. If journalists attended the party and it was the orgy of depraived carnage as detailed in the article, why are we only now hearing about it? They wouldn't sit on a story like this long enough to leave the party, never mind waiting two months.
If it were my party I would have had the PS3 levitate a live goat and detonate it in mid-air. That'll give that creepy baby doll something to cry about. Well...and the press, I imagine.
For the love of God, Sony should fire every PR and marketing idiot they employ!
what's bad is all this stupid stuff Sony doesn't just reflect bad on the PlayStation brand but also on the entire gaming industry!
You give the media an opening, and they take it. And spin it. They can totally mis-represent something, and then give a one-liner backpage apology next week. And the readership won't care because shitty journalism attracts shitty readers.
So what that this article was written by someone who didn't even show up. Stupid? Yes. Devoid of journalistic integrety? Yup. Suprising? Hardly.
An open question regarding association:
How the fuck does a creepy man and goat innards, real or fake, make you want to buy ANYTHING?
Again, leave an opening and the media takes it. Absolutly, totally, fucking amataur.
@NinjaBall: What this tells me is that Sony whose PR fails half of the time, and has to deal being the popular whipping-boy the rest of the time.
should read :Sony is a company whose PR fails half of the time, and has to deal being the popular whipping-boy the rest of the time.
MartenKL-
It is clearly cultural differences and the lack of empathy for other customs.
This was not a party for Greek people- the journalists invited were from all over Europe. Even if it was, I'm pretty sure the greeks don't have a traditional custom of killing goats and using them for decoration at parties. If they do it then its for something with meaning.
Why is it wrong to teach children we kill animals for food?
The goat was not killed for food and as a prop it was used for a sacrificial scene which has nothing to do with eating. It was killed in order to be a decoration for a party.
@StocDred: If that was all PETA did then maybe they would have a point.
The sad fact is all they have done is make people squeemish about the fact the burger they just chugged down once had a face. All this makes it easier for the producers to hide the fact that the animals were kept in horrible surroundings and fed on antibiotics and steroid for their miserable short lives. If people understood where their food came from better then they would care more about it not less. Putting people into denial just makes the bad prectices easier to brush under the carpet (not advised, sheep guts make the shagpile all soggy).
Yes I eat meat/animals. Yes I know it was alive previous to its career as a lamb chop, steak, or bacon but I would rather it grew up normaly before I ate it... It tastes better that way.
"They also managed to cramp in a 'review' of God of War II. Main complaint? It's violent."
To be fair, it is remarkably graphic in its violence. In fact, it's easily the most gratuitously violent game I've ever played. I'm not complaining, but I can see why the Mail might get upset.
http://www.thatguys.co.uk/2007/04/nobody-does-daily-mail-l...
Ok, it's nice to have some sort of official confirmation other than a pathetic tabloid.
This is all I needed. I don't see any problem with this, as per cultural reference this kind of thing isn't THAT far off center. It would make me squeamish, to be sure, but you're talking a country that cooks a full goat over a spit and have folks carve off their own chunk.
Still weird, but not borderline satanic as everyone was making it out to be.
The stupid goat would have ended up as gyro anyways, who cares?
And this is exactly why several people on the last "news" about this were saying not to jump to conclusions based off 1 rag's article.
So ya it happened, but not in the "horrific" way everyone was led to believe. I still say its a matter of comparing social standards, whilst it may appall those of us in the US (and I guess the UK?) I've not heard a single peep from the people who attended the party so it couldn't have been too dramatic to them.
I'd hope people would take a lesson from this one, but.....well we all know the internet.
Knowing Sony, I'm surprised the server isn't wearing a crown of thorns! And rapping!
''The goat's "entrails" were actually bowls of traditional Greek meat soup. At no stage was anyone allowed to touch the goat, nor did anyone eat or drink anything from inside the goat. After the party, the carcass was returned to the butcher.''
So let me get this straight. They went to the effort of gutting the goat and having it stuffed with food. However no one was allowed to touch the goat or eat anything?
I smell BS. Why stuff it with food if it no one is going to touch or eat it?
Don't know why so many people are still slamming Daily Mail over this event. Sure they are a tabloid and they exaggerated (eating still warm body organs for one). But the facts are still that, the party existed, they brought in a dead goat for display, and they printed the pictures in the magazine. That last one is the worse offense, since the mag is read by a lot of people that certainly doesn't expect gruesome actual bloody pictures when looking through the reviews and what not. Luckily they did pull it out of circulation just in time. Still, the damage was done.
Who told you they stuffed the goat with it? As I see it, there was a goat, ungutted, unstuffed. It was lying on an altar creating pagan atmosphere. The journalists sat at the tables, and were served Greek soup, which they were told is the goat's entrails. You know, like [religiously insensitive comparison removed]. They ate the soup, touched the tits, heard some PR bullshit and left. The goat returned to the butcher and lived happily ever after... I mean, met the demise of its brethren, probably. Or was sold as the unique "Sony PR goat" to the local museum.