In the days before the wide access of the internet, game companies and console developers had to have a way to advertise to their audiences. Print advertising was much cheaper than TV, and allowed for a permanent physical ad that players would come across organically while reading their favorite gaming magazine. However, unlike TV advertising, game marketers had to compete with other permanent ads created by marketers with the same goals in mind. It was a crowded market, and at its peak in the ’90s, some popular magazines were fighting for market share amongst Game Informer, PC Gamer, and the now shut-down Nintendo Power.
The world of marketing is an ever-evolving monster that relies on changing trends and new mediums. Before the internet, game companies had to make sure that their designs caught players eyes amongst the hundreds of other images in any copy of that magazine. Not only did these images have to grab the audience’s attention, they also had to get across information about what the product does and how players can access it. This led to new additions of graphic designers and marketers pairing together to create some truly outlandish concepts. What resulted was some interesting graphics that leave audiences scratching their heads to this day.
Sometimes games have marketing strategies that translate into millions of dollars in sales and world renown, and Nintendo’s Earthbound was not immediately one of those. It seems that Nintendo was going for a gross-out trend that was reportedly so popular with young boys. Not only did the commentary read about how much the game stinks, there were scratch and sniff sections on the magazine that would make the whole magazine reek with the smell of skunk or farts. As if that didn’t give off a bad impression, the advert also included a $10 manufacturers coupon, which had to give the audience the impression that stink had two meanings in this context.
This translated into poor sales for Earthbound in America. The game sold roughly 300,000 copies in Japan, but pulled in less than 50 percent of that in the United States. It seems that the self-deprecating marketing strategy might be at least partly to blame for the poor reception.
When one considers that Nintendo spent over $2 million into this advertising plan targeting teens and young adults, it begins to sting a bit more for the publisher. While the game did have crude humor and gross monsters, they were by no means the point of the game and likely gave fans the wrong idea. While Earthbound‘s graphics couldn’t compare with some of the better titles of the time, Nintendo believed the story and combat would appeal to larger audiences, but the marketing team failed to execute.
There is the multicolored tongues image that is reminiscent of the “Pretty Patty” episode of Spongebob SquarePants, as if Nintendo wanted its fans to lick the Game Boy Pockets straight out of the package. Even forgetting about the color, they are all different shapes and sizes. It makes one wonder why Yellow and Clear haven’t seen a doctor yet. But really, the Game Boy Pocket was a good addition to the brand, especially for those who played in shorter sprints who didn’t mind a slightly smaller model.
One example of a creepy advertisement is this image of a cozy baby Xenomorph on an ultrasound, which had to be terrifying to expecting parents at the time. Also the name on the Ultrasound is “Ripley, Ellen,” so according to this advert, the protagonist of the first movie is having a baby Xeno. Yes, Ripley’s clone had to have one removed in Alien Resurrection after her original body and Queen perished, but Chestbursters aren’t know for targeting the womb and don’t take full Xeno form inside the host. Upon its release, Alien Resurrection received mix reviews. The scary atmosphere drew praise, but overall the game failed to execute any fun and lasting gameplay.
As for the “Be one.” sausage advertisement for Nintendo 64, there is no divining what it means, one can only hope to be one. Actually, it’s most likely a hot dog, a popular slang term for something that is cool and draws attention. However, this giant frankfurter is more than a little daunting and had to have some moms wondering if they accidentally bought their child the wrong magazine.
Sometimes it takes a weird vibe to sell video games, and there was no more popular time to lean into that than in the wild frontier of 80’s and 90’s advertising. One could even argue that the impact of these ads worked exactly as intended, because here they are getting new light on the internet 20-35 years later. Maybe Nintendo will take the hint and bring back their multiple colored tongues for the Nintendo Switch.
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