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	kumquat_of_doom 2009-11-19 05:44 pm UTC (link)
	WHAT. No, seriously. WHAT. (Reply to this)

	issendai 2009-11-19 05:54 pm UTC (link)
	I... uh. So I kind of see what they were trying to do. But haven't they read anything in the literature about what happens if you make failing the game more entertaining than winning? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2009-11-19 09:52 pm UTC (link)
	Ditto. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	chikane 2009-11-19 05:56 pm UTC (link)
	"What were they thinking" is indeed all I can say about this. What the heck? I...don't think this is going to have the effect they want. (Reply to this)

	sneer 2009-11-19 07:50 pm UTC (link)
	This is "doing it wrong" taken to a whole new horrible low. (Reply to this)

	tetradecimal 2009-11-19 08:32 pm UTC (link)
	Wow, uh. Wow. (Reply to this)

tachikoma01
2009-11-19 09:06 pm UTC (link)

... Which still reinforces the idea that not hitting a woman makes you a 'pussy' but hitting one makes you a 'gangsta', even if they slapped the "NOT" on the end.

I would have preferred they code it so that every time you hit the woman in the game, your game character's penis gets smaller.

[I'm also... okay, I'm not sure if I'm being overly sensitive, but the use of the term 'gangsta' strikes me as adding race fail to misogyny fail, because 'gangster', at least where I am, conjures up a certain stereotypical image, and it certainly isn't that of a white guy. Why not go straight to '100% idiot' or '100% limp-dicked coward?']

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	inalasahl 2009-11-19 09:38 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think you're being overly sensitive. I find it very telling that it's apparently spelled "gangsta" and not "gangster." (Reply to this)(Parent)

	felinephoenix 2009-11-19 09:52 pm UTC (link)
	It's not just you. I got that feeling, too. Though to be fair, the hand and the woman are both white. (Reply to this)(Parent)

krazycat
2009-11-19 10:16 pm UTC (link)

In Scandinavia, there's a huge wave of young white boys who are into hip hop and dress like they think they could be "gangsta". It is so prevalent at this point it is mainstream fashion. It's a frequently used term amongst teenagers to denote coolness/trendiness. When I think gangsta, I don't think black youth, I think moronic looking chubby white 18 year old who is under the misconception that being poor, violent and misogynist is cool.

Not that I'm defending the PSA at all, I'm just seeing from a local context that the way they're attempting to target this thing makes sense.

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	tachikoma01 2009-11-19 10:50 pm UTC (link)
	Okay. I'm coming from a very 'AMERIIIIICAAAAAA' perspective, so sometimes it's hard to know how things are perceived in the rest of the world. If this ad had been produced in the US I would have been less hesitant to call race fail on it. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	krazycat 2009-11-19 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	Honestly I find those kids utterly pathetic. Because Scandinavia is SO ghetto. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	anarchicq 2009-11-20 01:38 am UTC (link)
	SKWISGAAR IS SO GANGSTA! (Reply to this)(Parent)

	OT charamei 2009-11-20 12:13 am UTC (link)
	Off-topic, but a mildly interesting cultural thing: Being British, and therefore straddling the European/American cultural divide somewhat, the word 'gangsta' makes me think of the aforementioned desperately 'trendy' white teenagers long before I think of black guys, and yet I still regard it as racist. Am I alone in this? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: OT hijja 2009-11-20 02:30 am UTC (link)
	Hard to say... I sort of see it as a pair of scales, with racism in one and cultural imperialism in the other... both, probably. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	Re: OT tachikoma01 2009-11-20 04:12 pm UTC (link)
	I can see that point if you consider that the reason they're calling them 'gangsta' is that they're white kids 'acting black.' (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: OT

sequinedlizard
2009-11-20 08:35 pm UTC (link)

That's pretty much it. "Gangsta" got appended to a certain urban heavily black subgroup (although there were other ethnicities in those neighborhoods), and white kids found it appealing through the dissemination of music and videos "glamorizing" the culture, and so they imitated it without the cultural context (there's a lot of "gangsta" rap that talked about the perks, but also critiqued it - I'm thinking Ice-T's Power at the moment, because that's what I've listened to the most). They still do, so they get the "gangsta" label, even though "gangsta" rap is not quite as popular and as widely disseminated as it once was. Although you do have people that think all hip-hop/rap is "gangsta" rap, which is another type of fail again.

"Gangster" has a different connotation for most people - which can be any race, but tends towards a different look and associations. Italian mafiosi might be an example, some of the fictional hip-hop executives that wear suits and ties and are violent might also work, although they might also blur the line between what people think of when they hear "gangsta" and "gangster."

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esclaramonde
2009-11-20 03:15 pm UTC (link)

I have to say that I get the same image as you, and I'm American - we have the same trend. I mean, I also see the racefail because of the obvious reasons. But there's a gulf between "gangster" and "gangsta", and I think by this point "gangster" would both send a different message (unless my association of "gangster" with "1920s" is just dorkish idiosyncrasy) and scream "an adult who has no idea what you think made this, teenagers".

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	issendai 2009-11-19 10:20 pm UTC (link)
	It also teaches that hitting a woman is an effective way of subduing her, if the model doesn't fight back and just falls to the floor at the end. Many of the guys they're trying to reach would LIKE that ending. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tachikoma01 2009-11-19 10:51 pm UTC (link)
	Don't you know? Women NEVER fight back. It's just not in their nature cuz they're such loving, nurturing lil' things. Unless they're a tsundere, in which case, they're only hitting you because they LOVE you. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sukeban 2009-11-20 09:27 am UTC (link)
	But if they fight back, hey, she hit him too, so it's all fair and so not gender violence. I seriously hate 80% of the men on some Spanish news boards. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	krazycat 2009-11-19 10:54 pm UTC (link)
	I had a look at it and she is talking back at "him" every step of the way, telling him what a jackass he is. "You think you're a big man now, huh?" She's definitely resisting, only not with violence. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2009-11-19 11:04 pm UTC (link)
	Of course she is. Because only bitches fight back. ...sorry, I know that's not what the game was getting at, but I did get that feeling. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	krazycat 2009-11-19 11:09 pm UTC (link)
	It is playing up to that, yes. But then there's a point after I think three hits where the spark goes out of her eyes and it's really horrifying. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2009-11-19 11:10 pm UTC (link)
	True. Though it took me more like six hits to get there, because I'm a pussy. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	krazycat 2009-11-19 11:13 pm UTC (link)
	I really didn't want to do the last one. But I just had to know what happened. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	felinephoenix 2009-11-19 11:14 pm UTC (link)
	I couldn't get there -- I played it before I knew what it's message was, and I thought it was seriously advocating violence. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	persona 2009-11-20 04:57 am UTC (link)
	To someone who's halfway decent. The people they're trying to reach won't notice, or, worse, will notice and won't care. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	issendai 2009-11-20 03:00 am UTC (link)
	She does? That's good to hear. A little moment of nonfail in an Olympic swimming pool filled with chlorinated fail and lost water wings. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	krazycat 2009-11-20 03:01 am UTC (link)
	One of the messages after the 100% idiot flash is "it's never okay to hit anyone, no matter what they say to you." (Reply to this)(Parent)

	chikane 2009-11-19 10:31 pm UTC (link)
	In europe, gangsta is indeed used mostly by white people, for something that's supposed to be cool and edgy. Doesn't make the rest okay, but from an european viewpoint, the whole thing doesn't really invoke a PoC - it invokes a pseudocool male white teen in ill fitting clothes quoting american music ad nauseum. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	tachikoma01 2009-11-19 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	Okay. As I said, I feel like I might be a little bit sensitive about it because I bus through a minority neighborhood from work to my house, and I've heard a lot of people use 'gangsta' as a term for 'any black male.' Even well dressed middle-aged black men with briefcases. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	chikane 2009-11-19 11:02 pm UTC (link)
	It's absolutely understandable that you reacted that way. I did not mean to say you were entirely wrong in it! The whole thing lacks sensibility either way. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	judyhazeleyes 2009-11-19 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	Oh sweet jesus. (Reply to this)

	harrylovesron 2009-11-19 11:20 pm UTC (link)
	D: Even looking at the screenshot makes me squeamish. Am I alone in that? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	thebratqueen 2009-11-20 02:56 am UTC (link)
	Nope. Not just you. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	writinchica2k 2009-11-19 11:28 pm UTC (link)
	If it "helps" any, the site can only be accessed from Denmark now. Anything to help deter those with trainwreck curiosity, I suppose. (someone hacking it in 3, 2...) (Reply to this)

	sistercoyote 2009-11-19 11:31 pm UTC (link)
	I thought about putting this here, but then every time I did I got all ragey and had to lay down from headache and mad. (Reply to this)

charamei
2009-11-20 12:24 am UTC (link)

Seriously though, this seems like the end result of some people sitting around a table trying to figure out how to make domestic violence edgy and attention-grabbing. Are we really so inured to the standard imagery of wide-eyed kids cowering in the background, or the bruised faces of women?

I'm afraid to say I think the answer is 'yes'. I know my standard reaction to the curent line of NSPCC ads is more to the tune of 'Holy crap, what did they drop into those kids' eyes to make their irises so big, that's horrible' than any reaction to the content they're actually trying to get across.

I don't for a second think this specific 'game' is in any way appropriate, but the idea behind it - with a lot of refining - probably is what's needed.

And that's quite sad.

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	irised 2009-11-20 06:16 am UTC (link)
	The same idea goes with road safety ads, though, and I think some study or other has recently found that the escalating horror in those ads isn't particularly effective. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	silrana 2009-11-20 01:02 pm UTC (link)
	Maybe not horror, but I know the "Did you see that coming?" ad they ran in my area at least got people talking. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

irised
2009-11-20 09:02 pm UTC (link)

That's cool! Ads that make you think or go "whoa" are the way to go, I reckon ...

I'm a nana driver anyway, so not exactly the target group of people, but the road safety ad that made a big impact on me was one with a kid getting hit on the road (first version dead on the side of the road when driver was at 60kph, second runs away alive when driver was at 50kph) .. it wasn't the lovingly realistic depiction of what she looked like with limbs broken that got me at all - it was the bit where they said that 80% of kids hit at 60 die whereas 80% of kids hit at 50 live.

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	brennalarose 2009-11-20 02:32 am UTC (link)
	Oh, my god. For a second, I considered checking it out. But, no, I can't. I've had my anxiety episode for the month, thank you. What makes people think this is okay? (Reply to this)