AO's new Advertising Campaign is Tasteless

[_____________Cloudeh]

Fact is nobody gives a **** cept you ppl.
Pfff.
Your not helping in anyway, just making things "worse"

This is all "gaaaaay" :P

[lilnymph]

ok, Firstly as a Gay female I am not offended in the slightest by any of these ads, infact I really like them. They appeal to the sort of people who play these games, and also allow those of us that arent from the Horny male teenager group, to have a laught at their expense. Also, at least in britain, the term gay meaning lame is used in the gay community. The Gay community has a history of using terms designed to insult them and just use them so much they lose all meaning. I have also emailed round some of my friends with the ads, and so far not one has been offended, and to my knowledge one is thinking about starting playing the game

lilnymph

[________________Heya]

Whats so offensive about the adds?
Its just an advertisment nothing more nothing less, personally i think they are pretty funny.
If you cant take it they stay the fuc*k of the Internet you konservative losers!

[Blade / Silke X]

Hahahahahahahah
Haaaaaahhhhhhhhaaaaahhhhhhhaaaahhhhhahhhhhhaaaaa
Meeeeooooooow
Hahahahahhahahhahahahhaha
hehehehehehehehehehehehhehehe
ahehaehhaeheahehaeheaheahaehaehaehae
hahahahahaha
hahehaehaehahehae
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
hahahahh
hehe
haha
hahahahahahahahh
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Meow
Meow
Meow
MEow
Meow
Meow

[-Zagadka-]

This is the stupidest thread ever.

Oh, wait, no... the porn socials is the stupidest thread ever.

FIRST!!!!!

[dropcid]

Originally posted by Vrach
This is the stupidest thread ever.

Oh, wait, no... the porn socials is the stupidest thread ever.

FIRST!!!!!

porn socials was at least amusing. this one is just dumb.
actaully, this one is just gaaaaay

-D

[Whiterrabbit]

Originally posted by Succumbus
ok, Firstly as a Gay female I am not offended in the slightest by any of these ads, infact I really like them. They appeal to the sort of people who play these games, and also allow those of us that arent from the Horny male teenager group, to have a laught at their expense. Also, at least in britain, the term gay meaning lame is used in the gay community. The Gay community has a history of using terms designed to insult them and just use them so much they lose all meaning. I have also emailed round some of my friends with the ads, and so far not one has been offended, and to my knowledge one is thinking about starting playing the game

lilnymph

might i just say this "pissed on your fire mate!"

[____________Founding]

All this talk has me feeling so gay. Think I'll go chuck another ****** on the fire. Its been a bit nippy around here since the **** started to leak.

[__________Maxtor 1-7]

insecure you say? hahahahahahahahahaha
actually it helps to stand out and prove a point, for me at least.
I can sorta see where you are going but the only times when some1 would be insecure and post their IQ is if they are lying.
Funcom has done an amazing job of advertising even though they spent a bit to much time on some stuff *cough* book *cough* leave it to L. Ron Hubbard even if his mission earth decology (series of 10 books) should never have been published, along with the epilogue in Battlefield Earth. never read those (the decology and epilogue, I have heard a few good things about Funcoms book though), not worth the time. I actually live in Cincinnati where those of us who watch the news know is riot-metropolis from one sided arguements, that is where the go start a riot and get yourself arrested part came in. It actually is sad to be smart because any1 who is normal can get on your nerves with the aparent stupidity that they exhibit each day. You have no idea what Menza goes through.
I would only complain about the advertising if Guy A was named "imahomo" and the girl said a few things that would get this post deleted. O well, off to solve world hunger ; or should I build a time machine and delete that post
O yeah, and to all the ppl who have worked out all the definitions of stuff add this to the list: ***=tired, look it up.

[____________Arterous]

Originally posted by Falcon
All this talk has me feeling so gay. Think I'll go chuck another ****** on the fire. Its been a bit nippy around here since the **** started to leak.

!!!!

LOL

[_____________Rowenna]

everyone will see what he/she is inclined to see, given a set input.

Some will see a joke, some will see an insult.
Depends on your prejudices/background, etc.
"it is your mind that creates this world" - Buddha

Gay ppl could as well be happy for getting free advertising for the men in tights. Rolling of the eyes could also be a sign of eventual pre-orgasmic state. How about that?

You can make a political manifesto out of everything, even your sex life if you so choose.

Physical beatings of minorities is a cultural issue, and has noth so much to do with advertising for minority A or B.

[___________Leo Nomis]

Originally posted by Karlek
everyone will see what he/she is inclined to see, given a set input.

Some will see a joke, some will see an insult.
Depends on your prejudices/background, etc.
"it is your mind that creates this world" - Buddha

Gay ppl could as well be happy for getting free advertising for the men in tights. Rolling of the eyes could also be a sign of eventual pre-orgasmic state. How about that?

You can make a political manifesto out of everything, even your sex life if you so choose.

Physical beatings of minorities is a cultural issue, and has noth so much to do with advertising for minority A or B.

Now that you mention it... This board's colors must be subliminal advertizing for scat fetish websites.

--> Oooh!

[___________Zyxlquith]

i object to the way you all use the term "lame"

its a slight to people with limps.

(oh dear... was that an inadvertent pun?)

Zyxlquith

[_______________Chace]

OK, I can't believe that I'm posting in a heated debate with the newest post nearly two weeks old, but I stumbled upon it by chance, and it got me a little riled up, so bear with me, OK?

Thanks.

First off, I'm gay. (Gay=Homo, in this case. Actually, sometimes I can be pretty lame, too, so who knows?! )

<sarcasm>I hope this gives me the credibility to make a comment on this topic. You need to be gay to have a worthwhile opinion on it. </sarcasm>

Unbelievable!

But I should qualify my sarcasm: I think that gay people sometimes , yes sometimes , have unique opinions because of the unique situation they are in. There are times when I think to myself, "This is a topic gay people understand better than straight people." But then I usually run into a gay person with a wholly different (and completely valid!!) take on the issue. Then I talk to a straight friend who shares my opinion, and I'm right back where I started. So let's not discredit someone's thoughts because of their sexual orientation, disclosed or not.

Here's my issue:

We can say that in this case, "gaaaaay" is used to mean "lame," and probably, we can all agree. I don't think anyone intended any harm or insult from this ad campaign. In fact, I got a big chuckle out of it. But don't you dare quote me out of context, because that doesn't mean that I think it's acceptable usage of the term.

Here's why. When we say "gay" to mean "lame," we are strongly implying that the two terms are equivalent. If "gay"="lame"="useless"="something laughable", what are the consequences? (I'll ignore, for this purpose, the word origins of "can't walk"="lame"="useless"!)

Here are the consequences. Young people grow up hearing "gay" used to describe anything people don't like. The logical conclusion is that people don't like anything gay! So, if you're a young gay man or woman, what are you going to think about yourself?

Consciously or subconsciously, you learn that "you"="gay"="lame"="useless"="laughable". And it takes a very long time to unlearn that.

Some people NEVER get to unlearn this.

Do you know the biggest reason that teenagers commit suicide? The leading cause of adolescent suicide in the United States is the fear that you MIGHT be gay.

Did you read that? MIGHT BE GAY! Not, "because they're gay." They just aren't sure. Maybe a teenage boy has a dream about another guy, and he starts to wonder why.

Can you imagine the shame of that? Each day when he goes to school, he hears someone make a gay joke. And each time, he has to struggle not to blush, because if he blushed, someone might think he's gay. But it's hard not to blush, because he just had a dream about a guy, and he's scared about what that might mean.

So he goes home. And maybe he hears his brother make a gay joke about someone. Again, he has the same trouble, trying not to blush.

Dinner. Dad makes a joke. Maybe Mom doesn't laugh, but she doesn't say anything, does she? And his brother laughs, while he tries even harder not to blush, because what would his family think if they knew he had a dream about a guy last night? Would they make the same jokes about him? Would he be a joke to them?

Finally, he goes into his room, where he can stop hiding from his feelings. Maybe he goes online to blow off some steam. Maybe he's an AO player. Maybe he spends time in these forums.

Two questions:

How does he feel when he sees that ad?

How would he feel if he came to these forums and did a search on the word "gay," and found 61 threads, 60 of which use the word to talk about nerfs, players, and Funcom staffers they don't like, and this thread?

Among 12000 threads, only 1 talks about gay people who might play Anarchy Online.

I know how I'd feel. I'd feel lonely.

And I guess that's my point: why isolate people that way, when you claim not to care about their sexual orientation?


/rant


In closing, I'd just like to say that I'm a little surprised how heated I just got writing this post. I came out nearly ten years ago, and just thinking about what it's like for young gay people still gets to me the same way.


I play Zephyn on RK-2. You know what? He's gay, too.