Week Three: Bogost, Advergaming, and Call of Duty

In Chapter 5 of Persuasive Games, Bogost discusses advertising in video games and spends a great deal of time dissecting automobile ads in print, television, and in games. Bogost asserts there are three types of advertising: demonstrative, illustrate, and associative. I have provided a YouTube clip of what I consider a fascinating example of demonstrative advertising. This commercial was broadcasted on television, but features the video game Call of Duty to sell a real life Jeep. This Jeep is the new Call of Duty: Black Ops edition of the vehicle.

Though I have not played Call of Duty: Black Ops, I assume this vehicle is used within game play. In an explanation of demonstrative advergaming, as quoted on page 159, Chen and Ringel claim, “Advergames boost messaging effectiveness by present the product in its natural context and inviting the consumer to interact with it.” As anyone familiar with U.S. history and/or war films can tell you, the Jeep was widely popularized by the armed forces’ use of the vehicle. Therefore featuring it in this game is an example of the Jeep in its natural context. (However, anyone from my hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana will be disappointed that our homegrown product, the Hummer, is not featured instead.) This product placement within Call of Duty is believable. In fact, the use of any other vehicle (aside from the military Hummer) would have seemed absurd.

Because Bogost’s text is a few years old, at the time of writing, this kind of hybrid advertising was not yet prevalent, nor is the Black Ops commercial the first of its kind (see also the Grand Theft Auto-esque Coca Cola commercial from 2007). Game culture and gaming technology is becoming increasingly pervasive. Not only is advertising used within games, but we are seeing games used to advertise other products through additional media, a confluence I find endlessly fascinating.