The Black Mamba & Black Ops
Kobe Bryant is catching a lot of criticism for being in a commercial for the new videogame, Call of Duty: Black Ops. I understand why people are criticizing Kobe, but the logic is completely flawed. It’s worth noting here that I am far from a Kobe Bryant fan. Nor am I a fan of the popular first-person shooter style video games like COD. But I am much less a fan of people misplacing blame and responsibility and/or needlessly stirring up controversy.
The main beef with this commercial, and specifically with Kobe’s appearance in it, is that he sends the wrong message about guns and violence to kids. What is this “wrong message?” (A) That guns are toys? (B) That shooting a gun at someone is cool? (C) That death is neither real nor final? (D) All of the above? I’ll agree with D.
I’ll concede that all of those are important, very serious, and absolutely wrong messages to send; but I cannot place the responsibility, or resulting blame, for these messages on Kobe Bryant, Jimmy Kimmel (appearing in the same ad), Activision - the makers of COD, or anyone else involved with the making of the commercial. I will blame parents, teachers, and political and other community leaders for not teaching children these concepts. Perhaps more directly to the parents, if your child cannot distinguish that Kobe, Kimmel, or the spectacled 13 year old girl are pretending to shoot fake guns at fake people to promote a game centered around virtual combat…well, you may want to take stronger censorship over your child’s TV viewing.
Was there a lack of judgment on the COD franchise to portray war in such a no-nonsense kind of light – especially when we are engaged in combat in the Middle East? Perhaps. Was it a poor decision for Kobe Bryant’s agents to advise, allow, or encourage him to be in this commercial? Sure. Anyone in or outside of PR could have seen this drumming up some controversy - maybe that is why Kobe decided to do this ad. But the real question is why should they shoulder the responsibility or blame for teaching kids about the casualties of war, the reality and finality of death, or the difference between video games and real life? It seems to me that a slightly educated individual could ascertain that this is a staged commercial. That same slightly educated individual should understand that Kobe is promoting playing a video game and not promoting shooting real guns in a real demilitarized zone. It is not up to Kobe or Kimmel or any other pop culture icon to educate, even slightly, children on these issues and as such it is unfair to blame them for this commercial and this misconstrued controversy.
When I first saw the commercial my thought progression went something like this:
1. This is a damn clever commercial.
2. Wow! I’m surprised these kids’ parents let them partake in this ad.
3. Was that Kobe Bryant? Nah.
4. Was that Jimmy Kimmel? Grab the remote and play it back.
5. Yep, it sure was. Wow!
6. That butcher/delicatessen guy is sort of creepy.
7. What a damn clever ad.
8. Kimmel and Kobe are going to catch a lot of s*&% for this.
And now here we are. About a week after the ad first aired and the controversy is still gaining steam. My personal opinion is that media personalities are harping on this simply to harp on something. There is a mega-celeb involved so it’s going to grab attention and unfortunately that is what the news has become – attention grabbing rather than information sharing. I’m not dismissing the issues presented in the ad as unimportant, but Kobe Bryant’s involvement seems very unimportant in the scope of issues the commercial presents. Among those issues are: corporate responsibility on Activision’s behalf; teaching kids the difference between video games and reality; the responsibilities of using a gun/weapon; the seriousness of death and war; etc. Maybe the Kobe controversy is a catalyst for discussions about these issues, but the main debate always starts with, centers around, and returns to Kobe’s appearance in the commercial. In fact I have heard no one reference the ad without bringing up Kobe within the first 10 seconds. It seems we, as a public, are too concerned with pointing fingers and, in turn, end up missing the real point.
Ultimately, if parents don’t like this or any other video game or advertisement centering around military combat, don’t buy the game or product for your kids. I could not even venture a guess as to how many video games use a military/combat theme, let alone how many violent video games there are in existence. Since their inception video games have used guns, violence, shooting and killing as themes to attract buyers. Oh, not to mention Hollywood and the music industry cashing in on violence. The ship on using violence to promote video games, music, and movies sailed long before Kobe was even a household name. And like it or not we the consumers are to blame for this and not Kobe Bryant for making a 4 second cameo in a commercial. On a positive note, I’d venture a guess that if parents don’t spend the $60 on COD: Black Ops this Christmas we won’t be seeing an ad campaign like this one for quite a while. Though I would bet more on the game breaking records in sales rather than not selling.
