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Topic: The new Microsoft advertising vehicle kown as "South Park"

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DanMan82

So, I was watching the 2nd part of the South Park Black Friday series (if that's what you call it) last night and noticed something I wanted to talk about here.

Without spoiling too much of the story for those who don't know, the kids from South Park want to buy the new next gen consoles coming out (notice how I said new. The Wii U hasn't been mentioned at all in the series yet, but I'll get to that later), but they are too expensive. Cartman then hears about a Black Friday deal they are having down at the mall where the first 30 customers into the mall get 80% off any item they choose. After it was assumed by Eric and most of the others that everyone was going to get Xbox One's, some of the kids form a different group that want PS4's, and a feud starts between them over which group is going to get in to the mall first to get their system of choice. Not only are they competing with each other, but with everyone in South Park who wants to be one of the first 30 in to the store...

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, let's talk about why I really came here. Obviously, the plot revolves around the PS4 and Xbox One and the console wars. Apparently, it's just between Sony & Microsoft because as I said, Nintendo is nowhere to be found in these episodes. There are spoofs of Microsoft and Sony's upper management and they don't even acknowledge Nintendo!!

Now, this wouldn't really bother me, but here is the "kicker". During the first commercial break, a message popped up that said "South Park is brought to you in part by Xbox One." What followed was a pattern of commercials that lasted throughout the rest of the breaks during the show:

Xbox One commercial
regular commercial
Xbox One commercial
PS4 commercial
2 other regular commercials
annndddd back to Xbox One -_-

So all total, here are the kinds of ads I saw during that one program. Note that it wasn't like this for the couple hours I watched Comedy Central before this episode came on:

Xbox One: Too many to count
PS4: About 8 or so.
The rest were regular generic commercials.

Now my question to you is, how many Xbox One's (and even PS4's) do you think Microsoft and Sony sold during these commercials? I did not even see one for the Wii U (could've been a 3DS ad in there, but my brain was so bombarded with Xbox One I couldn't even tell you). Given how leading up to the release of Pokémon X/Y, I saw loads of commercials for those games on CC (they even show A Link Between Worlds commercials quite often now), why couldn't Nintendo have taken this excellent marketing opportunity to spread awareness of the Wii U? It was the premiere of a new episode for a TV series very popular among younger adults and lots of people would have seen it. The fact that it was about the new consoles would've made their advertising even more relevant.

Basically, I think Nintendo passed up a more than generous opportunity to advertise Wii U. It looks like this series will be three parts so maybe next week? I doubt it. Hopefully their other marketing ventures will be able to generate strong revenue for their system.

Ok, I'm done now! Thanks for reading!!! (steps off soapbox).

Edited on by DanMan82

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."- Michael Jordan
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CanisWolfred

An american cartoon show advertising the only console put out by an American company, on a station whose demographic happanes to be the same as said console's, in a country where said console has become synonymous with video games? How unheard of.

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RR529

The only reason there were so many XO commercials are because MS has the money for all those commercials.

The advertising doesn't affect the actual content of the show at all (whose episodes are probably made a few months in advance). Last week's episode sponsor was The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

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Tasuki

Of course there is no advertising for the Wii U. Honestly thats one of the biggest problems I think Nintendo is having with the Wii U is the non existent advertising. I dont even watch South Park but I have seen alot more advertising for the PS4 and Xbox One then I have ever seen for the Wii U. I mean you had Taco Bell with a PS4 contest Mountain Dew and Doritos with an Xbox One contest, but who had a Wii U contest?

It's sad where once Nintendo commercials were some of the best around now I hardly see any. I dont know who is in charge of advertising at Nintendo but seriously they need to fire them. The most I see of their advertisement is sending Reggie to do some awkward late night talk show segment.

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shingi_70

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WAT!

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Kyloctopus

Guy, its not just South Park.
There's this Canadian channel called "City" that is completely advertised by Microsoft during its Primetime hours, to show the Xbox One interface before it airs its scheduled show.
I've also seen shows that briefly advertise Microsoft recently, including Parenthood, and briefly there's this scene in Grey's Anatomy where the patient and doctor are playing Killer Instinct.

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shingi_70

You guys do know that Microsoft/Sony pay for these advertisments right, They have much more money to blow than the Big N. Have you seen the Xbox One launch event they shut down times square .

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SheldonRandoms

Didn't the boys want a Sega Dreamcast in one episode, I wonder if that was brought to you by SSEEEEGGGGAAA!!!

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RR529

Also, it's no secret as to why they pushed back "Black Friday" in the show until Dec. 6.

Since the show is made in advance, they have both a "PS4 WINS" & "XO WINS" episode made. Next week's episode will be a repeat (thanks to Thanksgiving), and the week after that they'll show the conclusion (which version they show will be dependent on which console has better launch sells).

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the_shpydar

MrWalkieTalkie wrote:

And last week's South Park was brought to you by The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

You beat me to it. The first episode in this console wars/Game of Thrones parody arc was sponsored by Nintendo/ALBW. I wouldn't be surprised if the next episode is sponsored by Sony.

EDIT: Also, they didn't push back the next episode a week so there could be a "winner" episode. That's not Matt and Trey's style — to have some sort of winner in all this market-based stupidity, especially at this point. The next episode isn't until 12/6 because next week is the night before Thanksgiving, and tv networks rarely, if ever, air new programming that isn't holiday-related on a holiday-eve. Thus why next week they're airing a Thanksgiving episode of SP.

Edited on by the_shpydar

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RR529

Also, Nintendo is referenced, sort of...

Kenny's princess costume is clearly a Princess Zelda outfit (it's just missing a Triforce).

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Ash_Anne

I was really sick of seeing Xbox One commercials by the end of that episode. I must have missed the Playstation commercial. I loved how last week episode was sponsored by The Legend of Zelda ALBW. I thought it was pretty funny.

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LzWinky

Because Nintendo isn't making commercials aimed at that demographic. Quite frankly, they won't gain anything from them anyway. If you watch Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and similar channels, you WILL see Wii U commercials. The family demographic will buy into the Wii U

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DanMan82

Last week was ALBW? Thanks for the info. Also, I'm not saying that all CC shows is Xbox commercials. I was saying I found it odd that Nintendo didn't take advantage of this opportunity as well to sell their product (but it looks like they already did. Just not with Wii U).

Edited on by DanMan82

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."- Michael Jordan
“I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. Its because of them I’m doing it myself.” – ?????

DanMan82

shingi_70 wrote:

Aliens

ROFL! You know it!!

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."- Michael Jordan
“I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. Its because of them I’m doing it myself.” – ?????

Philip_J_Reed

RR529 wrote:

Kenny's princess costume is clearly a Princess Zelda outfit (it's just missing a Triforce).

It was a reference to one of the characters in Game of Thrones, as most of this arc seems to be...not The Legend of Zelda.

Philip_J_Reed

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the_shpydar

Philip_J_Reed wrote:

RR529 wrote:

Kenny's princess costume is clearly a Princess Zelda outfit (it's just missing a Triforce).

It was a reference to one of the characters in Game of Thrones, as most of this arc seems to be...not The Legend of Zelda.

Exactly.
Speaking of which, poor Butters. All he wants is some dragon action, but is relegated to nothing but floppy ... things.

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Csaw

RR529 wrote:

Also, it's no secret as to why they pushed back "Black Friday" in the show until Dec. 6.

Since the show is made in advance, they have both a "PS4 WINS" & "XO WINS" episode made. Next week's episode will be a repeat (thanks to Thanksgiving), and the week after that they'll show the conclusion (which version they show will be dependent on which console has better launch sells).

Actually according to the creators it takes them six days to make a new south park episode. As soon as one goes live they begin working on the next episode.
source:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/6-days-air-south-p...
I don't think its the south park's creators choice what commercials air during the episode. Most likely Microsoft paid Comedy Central a boat load of money to have a lot of commercials air during that time.

Csaw

RR529

the_shpydar wrote:

Philip_J_Reed wrote:

RR529 wrote:

Kenny's princess costume is clearly a Princess Zelda outfit (it's just missing a Triforce).

It was a reference to one of the characters in Game of Thrones, as most of this arc seems to be...not The Legend of Zelda.

Exactly.
Speaking of which, poor Butters. All he wants is some dragon action, but is relegated to nothing but floppy ... things.

I'll have to contest this.

While yes, this arc is clearly a parody of Game of Thrones, I highly doubt their individual costumes are designed after specific characters from the show.

The reason being that they were first shown wearing these exact costumes in the first trailer for South Park: the Stick of Truth video game (which they are still wearing in game, it appears). While GoT was out at the time the game was revealed, unless the entire game is a parody of GoT too, I doubt the costumes were designed after specific characters from it (actually, since they were initially designed for a game, it would actually make sense that one of them is designed after Zelda).

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