Post by Taxigirl on Nov 24, 2004 8:13:43 GMT
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/4036897.stm
An advert for a Vietnam War computer game has been banned for referring to the deadly chemical napalm.
The billboard poster for Vietcong Purple Haze, from Berkshire-based Take2 Interactive, featured the quote: "Napalm never smelt this good"
Seven people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA upheld their complaints, saying the quote "was likely to cause serious or widespread offence". The flammable jelly killed many Vietnamese civilians.
The advert for the PlayStation 2 game showed a soldier in combat fatigues in a jungle scene, above quotes from magazine reviews of the game.
The extract that prompted complaints was taken from Official PlayStation 2 magazine.
Take2 Interactive said the quote had been added because the publication concerned was respected in the games industry.
The company, whose offices are in Windsor, believed the quote referred to a well-known line from the war film Apocalypse Now.
It has apologised for the offence caused and promised to remove the line from future adverts.
The ASA rejected a second area of complaint about the game that it "glorified war and violence".
Three million people died in the Vietnam War, including 58,000 Americans.
A photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack on her village, with her clothes burnt off, became one of the war's most striking images.
An advert for a Vietnam War computer game has been banned for referring to the deadly chemical napalm.
The billboard poster for Vietcong Purple Haze, from Berkshire-based Take2 Interactive, featured the quote: "Napalm never smelt this good"
Seven people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA upheld their complaints, saying the quote "was likely to cause serious or widespread offence". The flammable jelly killed many Vietnamese civilians.
The advert for the PlayStation 2 game showed a soldier in combat fatigues in a jungle scene, above quotes from magazine reviews of the game.
The extract that prompted complaints was taken from Official PlayStation 2 magazine.
Take2 Interactive said the quote had been added because the publication concerned was respected in the games industry.
The company, whose offices are in Windsor, believed the quote referred to a well-known line from the war film Apocalypse Now.
It has apologised for the offence caused and promised to remove the line from future adverts.
The ASA rejected a second area of complaint about the game that it "glorified war and violence".
Three million people died in the Vietnam War, including 58,000 Americans.
A photograph of nine-year-old Kim Phuc running from a napalm attack on her village, with her clothes burnt off, became one of the war's most striking images.