Sony's Bacchanal
Published Tue, May 1 2007 9:02 AM
Technorati Tags: Games, Annoyances
Just when I thought Sony was actually taking
a decent moral stand on something and coming out on top I read
this little tidbit...
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Sony on Monday issued an apology for using a freshly slaughtered goat as a prop at its "God of War II" video game launch party in Athens, a publicity stunt that has outraged animal rights activists.
Sony hosted about 20 journalists at the March 1 event, which it called a theatrical dramatization with a Greek mythological theme. The goat, provided to the production company by a local butcher, was part of the set dressing, the company said.
The U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper on Sunday published a story on the party, where female hostesses with breasts covered with nothing but body paint fed grapes to guests, who competed to eat the most "warm entrails" -- a meat soup made to look like the goat's internal organs.
The Daily Mail's story quoted the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which said it was "outrageous" that the animal's death had been used "to sell a few computer games."
In its mea culpa, Sony said: "We recognize that the use of a dead goat was in poor taste and fell below the high standards of conduct we set ourselves."
The company said it has launched an internal inquiry into the circumstances of the event and that it will put measures in place to make sure it does not happen again.
I should hope not. I hate to see myself agreeing with the animal rights "activists" out there but this is over the top.
It's not just about the goat though. What about the use of semi-nude hostesses? This event apparently took advantage of all of the worst stereotypes found in depictions of ancient mythology.
(Yes, I know Bacchus was the Roman god of wine and mystic ecstasy. Dionysus was the Greek equivalent, but is Dionysus-al even a word?)
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