The separate camps of Family and Video Games have provided an interesting dynamic

that for years has been largely untouched by advertisers. With Video Games becoming more

advanced throughout the years, the focus of advertising has focused to the hardcore gamer, the

type who will spend countless hours playing video games until they achieve that final victory.

Now, advertising for video games seeks more than to market to the hardcore gaming crowd. The

hardcore gamer demographic is still sought after by advertisers, but now more than ever,

companies seek to create technology that breaks down that barrier of alienation and creates a

sense of social unity. By breaking down these technological barriers, these ads targeting this

casual demographic seek to associate socialization and relationship building with their products.

The purpose of this essay is to examine three ads that associate casual gaming with the process

of relationship building. Whether it is through developing a romantic relationship or through

providing a means of either building, or maintaining family relationships; these ads all focus on

the ideal relationship, and how casual gaming can construct that.

First, a television ad for Lips, a game that emulates the karaoke experience; the ad is set

in a hip and trendy apartment. The shot opens in the hall and zooms into the living room where

people are chatting, drinking, and having a decent time. The camera focuses on a man who is

sharing the couch with a young woman. He offers a snack but is rejected by the young woman.

The man gets up and boots up the game, offering the girl a duet over the song “Young Folks”by

Peter, Bjorn & John. The girl accepts and in a sweeping moment, the two share a touching

moment and gather everyone in the room around to watch the two bond over a song. As she

initially rejected his offer to bond, his new has this installed sense of romanticism mixed in with

the song and dance. As the ad progresses, the song is changed, and the ad shifts from being

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about two people developing feelings to scenes of everyone starting to transition from being a

static crowd to a lively dancing crowd. Everybody is dancing and laughing, enjoying the time

together in front of the Xbox.

The ad denotes a sense of yearning, it shows a bunch of people, all dispersed and

disconnected. In playing Lips, the immediate community becomes strengthened with the product

acting as leverage in provoking socialization. Lips is a new individual property and brand, and

the ad essentially depicts the brand as a means to provoke socialization, and in that sense, it

needs to draw upon the aspects of the crowd as a means of understanding how to craft a brand

(and corresponding ad) that appeals to that particular demographic. By drawing upon

subcultures, and by incorporating music identifiable to a young adult demographic, it shows a

tapping into that subculture capital, which Sarah Thornton describes as being the knowledge and

commodities that a subculture acquires over time (Thornton; 1995: pg.19). The advertisers

achieve this through the music; music is that easily identifiable quality. As discussed by

Goldman and Papson in the chapter Authenticity in the Age of the Poseur the authors discuss how

music “depends on its ability to articulate private but common desires, feelings and experiences

into a shared public language”(Goldman and Papson; 1996, pg. 152). Through the product, and

the ad, there is idea that music is that powerful force that brings us together. The ad uses

subculture capital found in the music to associate the product with a young and hip demographic;

and in this process, reflects not just its own issues of branding, but larger issues of branding that

is an issue within the backdrop of modern advertising. I have discussed already how the ad

creates a common image, but in doing so it is reinforcing a brand. By accepting the brand and the

product it comes to represent, we are mentally constructing the value of that ad. The ad for lips in

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many ways corresponds with the statement that Arvidsson makes, saying that brands are a

mechanism for creating trust in a product and in sharing an “ability to create something in

common” (Arvidsson, 2005; pg. 236). Advertising, and particularly brands these days, try to

associate their product with something shared. This ad for what is essentially a personal karaoke

experience, places the brand of Lips and the product firmly in place as the mechanism for

socialization. If the guy in the ad had not picked up the microphone, his chances of getting with

the girl are shown as being slim to none. The ad becomes a metaphor for acceptance, the world

may be a place full of awkward silences and moments of blank thought; with Lips though, those

awkward moments hold potential for relationships to be built upon the technology within Lips.

The Lips ad provided consumers with this idea that socialization is achieved through the

mechanism of technology, and the ad itself came to represent the brand; selling the idea of

acceptance. I shift to an ad for Project Natal for Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The ad starts off

differently than the Lips ad. It showcases the logo on a TV screen. As the camera cuts to the

screen, a title card states that the product is a new way to play. This then breaks to one of the

most interesting ideas showcased in the ad, the idea that the product features a motion sensing

camera, and no controller. A teenage boy walks into the room and a character on screen

recognizes the boy and issues a challenge to a fight. This ad is showcasing what would be

familiar elements of the hardcore audience, compared to the Lips ad that showcased a social

setting this ad starts off with a solo setting, the cut ends with the words: you are the controller.

The ad cuts to a family of four; the daughter is driving a race car with her hands. As she drives

into the digital pit stop, the father switches her tires. Compared to the Lips ad where it was seen

as a casual experience that acts as a mechanism for relationship building, the Natal ad focuses on

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this authentic experience. One where the other people are critical to success, if you are a father

trying to reconnect with your family, this ad almost provides a means for experience that acts as

a mechanism for relationship building, the Natal ad focuses on this authentic experience. One

where the other people are critical to success, if you are a father trying to reconnect with your

family, this ad almost provides a means for you to accomplish reconciling with your children.

Interestingly enough compared to the Lips ad which had a light-hearted soundtrack; the Natal ad

features rock music; this seems to attempt to place the product as being casual enough for some

of the other members to become involved in, while still remaining within the hardcore

demographic of the gaming market. It is the product that you’ll play because it has those

hardcore games you like, but it has that element of the simple and casual that will make it perfect

for your family or friends unfamiliar with games to join in. Cuts of an older brother providing the

smaller brother with advice and a mother and daughter playing soccer reinforce this notion that

the game can be played by young and old, experienced and non-experienced players. It is

melding the two demographics together. The tone of the ad shifts in the second half. Shots of a

young boy scanning in his skateboard and a young girl receiving some visual advice as to what

dress to wear to a party indicate a level of personal depth to the product. It may be made by

Microsoft, but to the consumer, this is an accessory, an extension of your personal self. In the

final stretch of the ad, we get a melding and an evolution of the themes. Firstly we see two

families competing in a game show; showing the two families working together in a friendly

competition. The final shot is that of the parents using the product to select a movie for them to

watch; noticeably the children are absent. The children have been integral to this ad, and by

closing the ad off with a shot of the more casual market engaging in a product that has before

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shown technological barriers shows that this product is a bridge between the casual and the

hardcore markets, letting the two work together in a way that will help families better understand

and play together. The final pitch of the ad is: The only experience you need is life experience.

This ad is remarkably simple in its message. It wants you to all play, and is trying to use a

minimized technology to which you (the user) can use as a bridge to socialize and connect with

people in your friends and family. While the Lips ad was all about the pursuit of friendship and

love; this ad focuses on family. Much like Lips however though, the technology is placing itself

as a mechanism for which it is implied that the product enhances family activity and becomes a

method for which family bonding can occur. Holt discusses how there is a culture-as-authority

paradigm; in which case corporations like Microsoft push their product as a lifestyle and as a

“central part of this kind of life.” (Holt, 2002; pg. 80). By reinforcing their product as the

primary means of reinforcing the idea of family time; they appear to not be marketing to the kids

who normally play the less casual games — but rather the parents who will see the casual games

as having a unifying effect on their family. The problem with ads like this one, the Lips one, and

the forthcoming Wii ad; is that they begin to see the human connection as an item for

commoditisation. Values of family and friendship become a leverage to which advertisers can

use to situate their products as the primary means to stimulate social growth. The question of this

is, is this successful? Do these products actually work as stimulators for social interaction as

these ads seem to push? Or are we simply being fed a lie that in order for us to be successful in

our social circles, intervention from these products is needed for sustainable success?

Arguably, Nintendo has struck the right chord with its Wii system. Consistently ranking

above its competition, the Wii sells in high numbers. The success may be hard to define, and yet

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for the sake of this paper, the argument could be made that the first ad for the Nintendo Wii has

taken an accurate portrait of what the success of the Wii can be attributed to. As this paper has

looked at themes of how ads leverage the values of family and friendship as a means to place

their product as a catalyst for socialization. In doing so the idea of brand association has come

up, and arguably the Wii has had more success in this process then Lips or Project Natal; so

looking at the successful console will provide the most accurate and reliable view into the

success of this.

The ad starts off with two businessmen driving through a suburban neighbourhood, they

stop off at one family’s home and offers the controller to the family with the phrase “Wii would

like to play.”Interestingly enough this phrase opens up much more in understanding the success

of the Wii. The console has arguably crafted the notion of casual gaming; with a line as direct as

the aforementioned tag line, it introduces both the words "We" and "Play" as more complex

concepts. The name itself, invokes a sense of socialization and social unity. By introducing the

brand name of“Wii”and placing it in the same realm as the notion of “Play”, this ad

becomes a case point in how these ads paint their technologies as mechanisms to leverage

socialization. This line appears to be simple, with the Japanese businessmen speaking in a soft

and gentle tone; even so, this ad comes to represent the values of represent this optimistic view

of the social effects of the casual gaming market. The ad then makes quick cuts to shots of the

family playing with the Wii. The businessmen watch on, and eventually leave. This montage of

shots is important in that it gives the impression that the family has been somehow fixed, the

businessmen give off this aurora of being almost sage-like. The impression is that they’ve been

left a better family as a result of the Wii.

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 The Wii ad falls in line with similar themes found in the Lips and Project Natal ads, the

social order of the family and friendship is repaired or even created through the social and casual

gaming machines. Holt in many ways looks at this common theme as being something typical in

advertising; as Holt states that in the process of creating identity myths, “People use [identity]

myths to smooth over these tensions, helping them to create purpose in their lives, to cement

their desired identity in place when it is under stress.” (2005; pg. 287). While the Lips ad

encouraged the product as being a mechanism for pushing social interaction in the face of social

anxiety and failure, the Wii and Project Natal ads push their products as a means for creating that

perfect family, creating that perfect family image and identity. This is what has given the Wii

such success in the market, the ad campaign gives the impression that the act of playing the Wii

will give you those great family bonding moments; that the easy to approach control system

gives even the most alienated spectators and outliers in the family the chance to participate in

nearly endless amounts of fun with the chance to bond as a family. Is it realistic to believe that?

That a piece of technology can leverage socialization? Not so much, for in the idea of a brand

itself, the production of a brand name only gives an illusion of social connectivity. Because at the

end of the day, the Wii is a brand name; just like Lips and Natal; it is a buzzword that invokes

images of a community. For as Arvidsson puts it; a brand is an“an experience, a shared emotion,

a sense of community” (2005; pg. 248). The question of how these ads situate their product as

being a top item is by producing a sense of brand recognition. They create this shared feeling of

connectivity in the realm of this casual gaming market. So when Oprah decides to show

everyone how the Wii is the next best thing, it receives higher brand recognition and is

ultimately being sold (in a rather ironic fashion) communally as a communal device. It is a brand

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being sold on the promise of doing what a brand does, on a rather micro level.

Video games have been an interesting site for communications throughout the most

recent years; and yet the promise of what social/casual gaming can do for you remains all but

always one of the most strongest bullet points on the packaging for these games and their

hardware. Customers are being promised in the three ads examined throughout this paper, that

the games can both create and maintain social relationships. That if you are someone who has

absolutely zero-to-none social skills; these will help you; they will give you that better life filled

with optimism and a gloatful network of people to call your friends and family. In this essay, the

process of relationship of socializing and building relationships has been examined in ads for

some of the most popular items on the market currently. In doing so, the discovery of this

correlation between brand creation (and the subsequent attempts to form a sense of recognition)

gives this sense of socialization on both a micro and macro level. The sales of something like

music games and the Wii prove that the casual market is something of a juggernaut in the video

game industry, and as long as people are willing to place a product as a means to encourage

socialization, then this success will continue to grow.

W.C. 2,739

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References

Arvidsson, Adam. (2005). “Brands: A critical perspective” in Journal of Consumer Culture 5.2:
Pg. 235-258.

Goldman, R. & Papson, S. (1996). Sign Wars: The Cluttered Landscape of Advertising. New
York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Holt, Douglas. (2005). “How societies desire brands: Using cultural theory to explain brand
symbolism” in Inside Consumption, Eds. S. Ratneshwar et al (NY: Routledge,), pg. 273-
291

Thornton, Sarah. (1995). Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital. Cambridge:
Polity Press.

Sources Cited:

Microsoft (2008) Lips Trailer [Advertisement]. US. Retrieved on February 5th 2010, from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsqFtYlvjgA
Microsoft (2009) Project Natal Xbox 360 Announcement [Advertisement]. US. Retrieved on
March 7th 2010, from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM
Nintendo (2006) Wii Commercial [Advertisement]. US. Retrieved on March 7th 2010, from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p25y36LMZys