Apologies to Bill Harris

Bill Harris was kind enough to email me back pointing out that "Some of Sony's ads are among (his) favorite ads of all time". Apparently a few others spoke up in defence of "This is Living" so Bill posted a clarification on his blog here. To paraphrase Bill doesn't find the first (Hotel) video clip offensive he just thinks it is bad marketing. He is offended by a second clip from the same campaign featuring an old performer reminiscing in which there is a highly dodgy reference to "the delicate fingers of 1000 Thai Boys". Apologies Bill if I misrepresented you the first time.

I don't know whether they are bad marketing or not. There is an old adage that no publicity is bad publicity but when a large part of your market is parents buying your product for their kids that is not exactly true. Parents (myself included) are are obsessively protective of their kids and a whiff of scandal around the product could see major retailers removing Playstations from their shelves.

I have to admit though. I still like the ads.

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