Sony PlayStation Paganism May be Worst PR Event, Ever

It seems Sony's answer for sluggish PlayStation 3 and PSP sales is to simply take their frustration out on the livestock.  According to some pretty shocking reports coming out of the UK, the company recently held a party celebrating the release of the PlayStation 2 title, God of War II.  The event was rife with Greek mythology throwbacks, all "pushing the envelope" and beyond.  Attendees were offered the chance to throw knives at targets, grab live snakes from pits, be fed fresh grapes by half-naked ladies, and eat offal out of the stomach of a sacrificed goat. 

 

Allegations of such unbelievable behavior first came from London's The Daily Mail, under the headline "Slaughter: Horror at Sony's depraved promotion stunt with a decapitated goat."

 

Participants were welcome to eat offal (the entrails of a butchered animal) straight from the goat, or take part in an eating contest. Ridiculously gross, and yet, no word on whether Joe Rogan was on hand to help out.

 

While Sony quickly fired out an apology for the massive PR slipup, animal rights groups are hardly satisfied.  The International Fund for Animal Welfare has condemned the event, calling it a ridiculous ploy in order to merely "sell a few computer games".

 

Even more shocking may be Sony's boasting of the festivities.  The UK Official PlayStation Magazine presented uncensored pictures of the slaughter, with writers asking readers if they'd consider "eating still warm intestines uncoiled from the carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat" in order to get their hands on a PlayStation 3.

 

Umm…they do know those things are pretty much anywhere, right?

 

This is a new plateau for Sony, which has hardly shied away from games like Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt.  However, it's one thing to produce violence IN games, another to actually perform it.

7 comments
Posted by Yvonne on May 24,2007 at 11:27 AM

It may be crazy, but it's certainly not Paganism.  Pagans do not eat freshly decapitated animals, we buy pre-wrapped food from the supermarket like everyone else.  And ditto to what Marq said.

Please check your facts about Paganism before casually using the word.

Posted by Marq on May 4,2007 at 3:11 PM

I'm from the UK so you should know that THE DAILY MAIL is a notorious ***-stirring 'newspaper' and will jump on any half sensational story and blow it out of all proportion.. No one ate flesh, the goat was pre-gutted from a local butcher, it was just a stupid party.. They had a guy Covered in raw bacon to promote Silent Hill 3 in the PS2 version of the mag a few years ago. Big deal?

Whats animal cruelty got to do with it? These same complaining people, eat meat, wear leather, steal honey from slave bees, ride horses, keep pets, etc etc.. I wish I'd been there as I wasn't doing anything that night.. Angels with dirty faces one and all.. *Tuts shaking head*

Posted by markofucity on May 3,2007 at 4:22 PM

I wonder how they'll top this event - live sodomization of 10 year old boys.

Posted by bLiNdLuCk on May 3,2007 at 1:57 PM

Can we get more pics of that waitress? Or the other waitresses at the party?

I mean seriousely, you people actually read the article?

Posted by modsuperstar on May 3,2007 at 11:12 AM

Sony has always been hailed as marketing geniuses, but they have really fell on their face in the last year or so.  The Euro Black vs White promos, the fake PSP fan blog and their ethnic stereotyped squirrel and dustball PSP ads have all fallen flat.  Their PS3 marketing has been pretty brutal, featuring a floating PS3 in a rainbow coloured room.  It's really no wonder their product lines have been going down the crapper.

Posted by zack on May 2,2007 at 7:12 PM

Gahahaha,

Whahoo for Sony.  Hey, it was thinking outside of the box (at the very least).  Maybe one of the pr people needs to get the boot, but besides that, I for one would be more interested in seeing stuff like this.

Posted by xntrk on May 2,2007 at 10:41 AM

Those crazy bastards! What a way to go. Thinking that Sony marketing couldn't get any worse, resulting in poor sales of PS3 and PSP, is an understatement by the looks of this. A goat? Greek gods? Half-naked broads?

Well, at least they got something right with the half-naked broad. Boobs and liquor were probably the only good things going on over there. But I still don't think I'd eat entrails from a freshly gutted goat. For a PSP? mmmm... not really. A PS3? mmmm... I'd have to be there to decide.