Nintendo ran an ad for the Gameboy Pocket that showed the outline of a Gameboy printing through the back pocket of a pair of jeans with the slogan “KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS.”
Sex sells. Video game ads have featured pretty girls since video game ads. You can go back to the late 70’s early 80’s and find an entire genre of ads that boil down to “pretty girl stands next to arcade cabinet.”
But then the entire 90’s happened, and there was a huge set of ads that seemed to say “play video games instead of having sex.” Which is…weird, right? Almost all products sold to young men are sold on the promise of attracting women. Show man with product, show woman having interest in the man with product, “Product: It Makes You Fuckable.TM” Video games postured themselves as something to do instead of your girlfriend or even more interesting than chicks. An ad for a 16-bit console featured a full-page centerfold with a few screenshots of video games scattered around with the slogan “If you look closely, there’s a beautiful naked woman on this page.”
Nintendo ran an ad for the Gameboy Pocket that showed the outline of a Gameboy printing through the back pocket of a pair of jeans with the slogan “KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS.”
Sex sells. Video game ads have featured pretty girls since video game ads. You can go back to the late 70’s early 80’s and find an entire genre of ads that boil down to “pretty girl stands next to arcade cabinet.”
But then the entire 90’s happened, and there was a huge set of ads that seemed to say “play video games instead of having sex.” Which is…weird, right? Almost all products sold to young men are sold on the promise of attracting women. Show man with product, show woman having interest in the man with product, “Product: It Makes You Fuckable.TM” Video games postured themselves as something to do instead of your girlfriend or even more interesting than chicks. An ad for a 16-bit console featured a full-page centerfold with a few screenshots of video games scattered around with the slogan “If you look closely, there’s a beautiful naked woman on this page.”