sega killed my childhood memories
Pony website axed after 'evil' game link revealed
Sega has been forced to take down a child-themed website promoting a violent video game after toy maker Hasbro complained that one of the game's promotional characters bore a striking resemblance to its character My Little Pony, a children' favourite.
Sega and its ad agency confirmed Hasbro had put pressure on it to remove the website, offsettheevil.com, after the The Sydney Morning Herald brought it to Hasbro's attention.
"They made some complaints about [the] pony. So we thought it would be a good time to take it down and move the campaign onto the next stage," a spokeswoman for Clemenger BBDO, the agency behind the campaign, said.
The Sega site is part of a viral campaign for Condemned 2: Bloodshot, a ghoulish video, which has been classified MA 15+ in Australia, meaning it is not suitable for children aged under 15.
However, while Sega has shut the gate, the pony has already bolted.
Sega has not deleted the cached version of the site, which can still easily be found through a Google search.
The site has three videos, featuring a little pony, a clown and lollipop characters - each of which sings along to a tune detailing the violence that characterises the game [see video, right].
The pony sings: "You killed a hobo with an iron bar, smashed his head through the window of a car."
Interspersed in the videos are split-second frames depicting brutal scenes from the game.
The videos are interspersed with split-second frames depicting scenes from the bloody video game, which features hand-to-hand combat, fighting with melee weapons (such as spikes clubs and baseball bats) and first-person shooting.
These videos can still be accessed and were purpose-made to be downloaded and spread virally over the internet on video-sharing sites such as YouTube
Clemenger BBDO said the viral campaign had been a success, proliferating in the blogosphere since it was sent to media and opinion formers last month.
Sega spokesman Vispi Bhopti said "some minor changes" were made to the website but it would be back up very soon, minus the My Litte Pony lookalike.
In the viral ads for Condemned 2: Bloodshot - a game aimed at 18- to 30-year-old male hardcore gamers - Mr Bhopti said he had had "conversations" with Hasbro, with which it had a business partnership for different games. "There will be no pony - that's for sure."
He said it was genuine mistake. "We didn't realise how close it was [to My Little Pony]. It's not exactly in my demographic."
The campaign drew criticism from Elizabeth Handsley of Young Media Australia, who said the humour and the irony would be lost on a child.
"I can just see this sort of thing being downloaded to a computer by an older brother and then a child stumbling across the violent scenes."