Topic: Offensive Gamefly Commercial?

Recently, I've been seeing a commercial for Gamefly that as a Nintendo fan seems somewhat offensive.
The commercial begins with a mailman knocking on the door to deliver a rental video game. He is greeted by a boy at the door wearing a green tunic and triangular cap (clearly a reference to Link from the Zelda franchise) and says, "Aww, a little elf."
Of course, Link is a member of the Hylian race and, therefore, not at all an elf. This isn't necessarily offensive in and of itself, as it's not meant to be Link anyways, only a parody for the commercial.
However, the commercial then proceeds to show the mailman returning on several occasions to drop off new games. Each time, the boy is wearing a different costume, one of which appearing to be a parody of Mega Man.
Eventually, the kid is decked out in some sort of full-body army suit akin to something from a more 'mature' franchise such as Halo. The mailman responds with, "Whoa! Look who's growing up."
To me, this seems to imply that when the boy was playing more lighthearted games like Zelda or Mega Man, he was somehow less "grown-up," but after having moved on to more "mature" titles and ditching the elf attire he was automatically more mature himself. Personally, I think this is bad messaging for the target demographic of kids, and to passionate Nintendo gamers it may even be borderline offensive.
So what do you think? Am I being overly sensitive like 99% of people on the Internet, or do I make a fair point? Please leave a comment and let me know!

"Am I being overly sensitive like 99% of people on the Internet..."

Yes

@Danksparce ...Fair enough. 😅

Sorry to burst your bubble but Nintendo has always been perceived as the kiddie game company and it won't go away. So yes you are being too sensitive.

And for postings such a rediculous thread

It's pretty much like the internet, so...no one really cares...lol

Gamefly still exists?

I haven't seen this particular commercial, but I often see another in the same line (the mailman is going from house to house. The first gamer is a knight, the second in a sci-fi suit, the third a race car driver, the fourth a WWII soldier, and finally the last is wearing a Tetris block suit, and the mailman goes "Hey! retro huh").

@RR529 Strange, and I haven't seen that one. Are the gamers kids or adults? I think the one I'm talking about probably only comes on kids' networks (Nick/CN/Disney), whereas yours is probably targeted at older audiences and airs on other networks. (I mostly only watch cartoons, admittedly.)

I think I was watching FXX at the time (though I know I've also seen it on Adult Swim). Oh, and the gamers all appear to be adults.

@Tasuki Eh? What happened? I posted that same image last night but it must have been deleted. I'm offended!

Anyway I hope I didn't sound mean @Not_Soos but yes I think it is a bit sensitive and Nintendo has been seen that way for a long time. But who really cares ya know? Just enjoy what you like and dont worry how it's perceived by others.

"Nintendo fan" is not a race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. It's not something you didn't choose to be. At the very most it's a personal preference or a taste. A thing can't be "offensive" towards Nintendo fans anymore than it can be offensive towards fans of particular kinds of foods, music or movies.

All I know is that I'm a man that attends all of his responsabilities like going to college, going to work, spend time with my girlfriend, do my laundry and pat my hawlucha because he's the most freaking adorable thing in the world.

Jokes aside (I really do that by the way), you shouldn't care about that kind of stuff buddy. People that try to show how mature they are by the games they play can't see the irony in it. In the end is their loss, they limit themselves to enjoy amazing games because of an irrational fear of turning into kids at the eyes of society if they play nintendo games. Admitedly, I used to think like that... when I was 6 and I wanted to see adult movies to feel like an adult. This commercial only works with people who already think like that.

Just for clarification, "offensive" may have been an exaggeration-- it was a hook to draw attention and prompt debate more than anything. I found the commercial slightly agitating at best, nothing more. To think I lost sleep over it or that it ruined my day would be inaccurate; it phased me very little, if any at all, but I thought it might make an interesting topic for discussion. The part about asking if I was being sensitive was more of a joke, because I was never really offended to begin with. I didn't expect it to be taken so literally, and I apologize for the confusion.

@Not_Soos
Even so, who cares if some organisation mocked the thing you like? Even if they did which I'm not sure if that's even the case. It's all a matter of taste so the idea that you could "feel mocked" is nonsense. Just as it's nonsense for the mocker to mock.

@Not_Soos I don't think you're crazy, but I also don't think this is the message Gamefly was trying to send.

Looking at the commercial, the child regularly goes through 'phases' and tries to express what he views as 'cool'. You could also say that the ad implies that the boy is easily swayed by popular opinion and that, at certain ages, different genres are viewed more favourably by his peers.
As for the mailman, .. he's mostly just ignorant.

Yeah, I think you're probably looking into this too much. The commercial was probably written by someone who knows very little about gaming, and ended up making a cringey joke based off of the common gaming stereotypes.

The whole "Nintendo games are for kids" thing has been going on for a long time. I wouldn't call this offensive, just... Bad writing. I certainly don't think they intended to insult anyone.

You are being overly sensitive, to put it bluntly. It's not offensive in the least, and like it or not, Nintendo's games and games like Mega Man are designed to appeal to kids first and foremost. Though they also enjoy the benefit of being fun to older people as well. Where games like Halo are designed to appeal to adults, hence why the commercial is perfectly fine.

Then there's the ultimate irony that EA, the creators of manly man games for men who are masculine and mature are the ones worried about how much children know about WW1 in order for them to truly appreciate their 'mature' game Battlefield One.

Irony.

_{Dude...calm down...and enough with the swearing, please...-Megumi}