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Water Cooler Games

Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.

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More fun with free speech

by Ian Bogost August 22, 2004

categories: Advergames , Political Games

This isn't really about advergaming or political gaming, at least not directly. But it's part of a broader trend in advertising and political speech that very much affects the kind of work we've been trying to do in the space.

So, CNN reported yesterday about a man being fired for heckling Bush. Here's the summary:

A man who heckled President Bush at a political rally was fired from his job at an advertising and design company for offending a client who provided tickets to the event.

The article's a great read, as are the quotes from the fired graphic designer, Glen Hiller. Here's my favorite:

"To some degree I can see her point of view," Hiller said. "Advertising is all about having the perfect tan and driving a cool car. It's all about image."

Readers who have ever worked at an ad agency are probably slapping their thighs and bellowing a collective "ha!" The best part is, when I tried to go to the studio Hiller worked for, Octavo Designs, all I got was a bright orange webpage. The title bar does read "Creative Solutions for Print and Web," though. I guess blank orange is creative in a kind of minimalist, citrusy way.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because there is a genuine threat of backlash in advergames that we haven't discussed much yet. In politics, the sensitivity is always very high, but advertising agencies also perpetuate the same kind of collective silence that some political organizations do: the primary goal is not to produce results, but to perpetuate the fashion of advertising, the Razor scooters, the Prada suits, the black pasteboards, the shiny PowerBooks, the concrete floors, the golden statues. We'll talk about this in more detail soon, but for now I'll just point out that advergames when used properly actually have the potential to upset the image-fetish of advertising, and that will prove a real threat to the ad industry.

Comments (5)

On a similar theme, there was a story a few days ago about two young women who attended a Bush campaign event wearing anti-Bush t-shirts. They were lead away in handcuffs. Charges were later dropped (can't remember if it was disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace); but its quite a wierd world where wearing a t-shirt for the wrong party can get you handcuffed and arrested!

RandyChase on August 23, 2004 3:06 AM

Here's a link to the article (via a newspaper that hadn't expired the AP story yet):

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/July/15/update.htm

It's more than a weird world... it's a totally disgusting one. All of my international friends keep asking me why Americans aren't more up in arms, staging protests. It's a good point. Things are really bad.

Ian Bogost on August 23, 2004 3:23 AM

If I dare drag out my soapbox....

Its a scarey world when patriotism starts being defined as "you're on our side or else...." But that certainly seems to be the dominant theme these days.

Who ever would have thought 10 or 20 years ago that we'd ever see a conservative campaign protecting a draft dodger and attacking a war hero as being unpatriotic?

Very strange times we're living in....

I'll put my soap box away now and go back to work....

RandyChase on August 23, 2004 12:10 PM

In keeping with the theme of advertising, I'm sure you've read the stories about people sporting the wrong product logos being barred from the Olympic games, no?

Some extracts:

Fans will be allowed into the Olympic complex if they are drinking Avra, a Greek mineral water owned by Coca-Cola, which paid $60 million US for the privilege of being one of the main sponsors. Officials are under orders not to let in rival brands' bottles unless the labels are removed.

Staff will also be on the lookout for T-shirts, hats and bags displaying the unwelcome logos of non-sponsors. Stewards have been trained to detect people who may be wearing merchandise from the sponsors' rivals in the hope of catching the eyes of television audiences. Those arousing suspicion will be required to wear their T-shirts inside out.

Known as the "clean venue policy," the rules were drawn up by the Greeks and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to shield sponsors from so-called "ambush marketing" - an attempt to advertise items during the games without paying sponsorship fees.

Chris on August 24, 2004 3:12 PM

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Anthony Wilson on December 5, 2005 2:11 AM

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