Cooking Mama KILLS ANIMALS
Oh, PETA. What is there to say about your advertising tactics that hasn't already been said?
At first I was kind of confused by this -- it's actually just a recreation of the hit Nintendo DS game, Cooking Mama, and it's fairly faithful. It's fun in the same way that the game is fun, so there really doesn't feel like there's much of a "don't do this" message here. Then I realized -- oh, they must be targeting this at kids, who will be grossed out by the nasty pictures of turkeys. Then you get to the bonus level (I won't ruin the surprise) where everything looks much nicer and less gory, although I think they could have spent more time on it. But PETA has never been one to put more time into positive advertising.
Unfortunately there are three flaws in their thinking:
- the game is still fun even with cartoon turkey gore. It has to be, because otherwise they wouldn't get people to the ending, but this kind of shoots the "OMG horror" message that they're usually going for in the foot.
- I don't think that many kids will be more than momentarily grossed out. Kids old enough to play this game are old enough to remember several thanksgivings, and if they grew up eating meaty turkeys, they know that turkeys are made to look much more appetizing than this.
- PETA underestimates the fact that a huge % of Cooking Mama players are actually women in their 30s and 40s, who are probably fairly familiar with the fact that making a thanksgiving turkey involves pulling the organs out and making gravy out of them. I'm planning on doing some of that myself in a week or so, although I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I do sincerely believe that avoiding needless suffering and death of animals in your diet is an ethical and moral choice. (Just one that I am too lazy and entitled to bother with.) I mean, nobody really plucks their own turkey, but PETA made that the least gross part anyway.
It's no MOOTRIX, that's for sure.
At first I was kind of confused by this -- it's actually just a recreation of the hit Nintendo DS game, Cooking Mama, and it's fairly faithful. It's fun in the same way that the game is fun, so there really doesn't feel like there's much of a "don't do this" message here. Then I realized -- oh, they must be targeting this at kids, who will be grossed out by the nasty pictures of turkeys. Then you get to the bonus level (I won't ruin the surprise) where everything looks much nicer and less gory, although I think they could have spent more time on it. But PETA has never been one to put more time into positive advertising.
Unfortunately there are three flaws in their thinking:
- the game is still fun even with cartoon turkey gore. It has to be, because otherwise they wouldn't get people to the ending, but this kind of shoots the "OMG horror" message that they're usually going for in the foot.
- I don't think that many kids will be more than momentarily grossed out. Kids old enough to play this game are old enough to remember several thanksgivings, and if they grew up eating meaty turkeys, they know that turkeys are made to look much more appetizing than this.
- PETA underestimates the fact that a huge % of Cooking Mama players are actually women in their 30s and 40s, who are probably fairly familiar with the fact that making a thanksgiving turkey involves pulling the organs out and making gravy out of them. I'm planning on doing some of that myself in a week or so, although I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I do sincerely believe that avoiding needless suffering and death of animals in your diet is an ethical and moral choice. (Just one that I am too lazy and entitled to bother with.) I mean, nobody really plucks their own turkey, but PETA made that the least gross part anyway.
It's no MOOTRIX, that's for sure.