
Barack Obama's presidential campaign has found an interesting new way to reach young voters: Campaign ads in the Madden video game.
TheHill.com reports that Obama has purchased space in Madden NFL 09. If you're playing the game on your Xbox you might see an Obama sign in the stands or an Obama billboard outside the stadium. Players will only see the ads if they're playing online in one of the 10 swing states that the campaign is targeting: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The ads started running last week and will be visible until the day before Election Day. In addition to Madden, Obama has bought ads in nine other EA video games: Burnout Paradise, NASCAR 09, NHL 09, NBA Live 08, Need For Speed: Carbon, Need For Speed: ProStreet, NFL Tour, and Skate.
The ads show Obama's face and the words "Early Voting Has Begun/VoteForChange.com."



















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-14-2008 @ 5:11PM
Brad said...
ridiculous
Reply
10-14-2008 @ 10:10PM
CDS said...
You sound like a really intelligent man, Robbie.
10-14-2008 @ 5:16PM
mrhammerstein said...
they are also in Burnout Paradise.
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/10/14/obama-ads-arrive-in-burnout-paradise/
i guess the only safe haven away from politics is no longer my video games. i might have to read a book now.
Reply
10-14-2008 @ 7:14PM
ROBBIE said...
IT;S BAD ENOUGH THAT WE HAVE TO SEE ALL HE ADS ON TV, NEWSPAPERS, AND EVEN ON THE INTERNET. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, AND WHY DON'T THE CANDIDATES TALK ABOUT WHAT THE REAL NUTS AND BOLTS, THE TRUTH.(LIKE WHY BARACK CHANGED HIS NAME, WHO REALLY PAID FOR HIS EDUCATION, AND WHERE HE STANDS ON OUR FLAG, HOW HE WILL BE SWORN IN SHOULD HE BE ELECTED) INSTEAD OF SING VIDEO GAMES DIRECTED AT YOUNG ADULTS AS WELL AS CHILDREN.
10-14-2008 @ 10:52PM
CDS said...
You sound like a really intelligent man, Robbie.
10-14-2008 @ 7:03PM
Rob said...
What a piece of crap! quit trying to BUY votes.....
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10-14-2008 @ 7:53PM
Biebs said...
Please tell me you are kidding. "Buy votes" How is this any different than ads on radio, television, or on billboards around the country.
WHether it's an egregious waste of money, I don't know. However, the idea that advertising for a campaign like this is somehow wrong escapes me.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the norm in the next election. If it wasn't Obama, someone else would have done it.
10-14-2008 @ 8:11PM
Brad said...
I'll tell you how its buying votes... Obama's preying on the young portion of the population in order to receive votes that other wise probably wouldn't exist... I hate to turn this into a political debate but I don't care who your pulling for in this election, everyone knows Obama's turning it into a popularity contest.
Honestly I don't care about his name, or his religion, or any of that half-truth bs. What bothers me is that the ignorant portion of the United States population that will view his little billboard ads on an over priced waste of time and think "oh cool Obama's on a video game" and then vote for him because its the cool thing to do are the ones that fail to see reality of this situation.
Maybe instead of playing the video game and basing their decisions on a pathetic campaign strategy people should research the contrasting policies and ideas of our two candidates in order to make an intelligent decision.
With that being said... would you rather have a president with military experience, over 30 years of experience in government, and who is currently working with both parties to establish logical and effective economic plans or one worrying about a 6 inch billboard on video games played mostly by people who can't even vote.
Wow, its kinda sad a 17 year old had to make this one clear.
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10-14-2008 @ 10:23PM
massa hudd said...
"research the contrasting policies and ideas of our two candidates in order to make an intelligent decision. "
well said brad, i suggest you do the same.
Reply
10-14-2008 @ 10:55PM
Brad said...
ok thanks for the suggestion, I'm working on it :)... what do you think about this campaign strategy?
10-15-2008 @ 9:55AM
Lucien BONNET said...
RE:
Obama Campaign Buys Ads in Madden; Gamers Will See Signs on Stadium Billboards
Posted Oct 14th 2008 4:42PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
Filed under: NFL Fans
----------------------------
Montreal, CANADA, October 4, 2008
TO THE NEXT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NEW PRESIDENT:
SIR:
"MAY I CALL YOU "O" ?"
Because of MAIN STREET !
Because of WALL STREET !
Because of the final electoral sprint - ending soon next coming november 2008 - while THE WHOLE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA has its eyes on YOU.
Everyone expects You to be democratically elected and see that something happen in America.
In March 1983, one of humanity's most famous spokesmen, Pope John Paul II, came to our country - 'Haîti' - and loudly proclaimed what each and every one of us had been whispering:
"Something must change here !"
Today, more than ever, a lot of people of The United States of America stand up, longing for something and working to make something happen.
"Go thou America ahead and show us thy true countenance in a positive light.' It is up to everyone to play his or her part in order to let thee regain thy mark of excellence !"
With this letter, I am communicating with You, SIR, and with the whole people of The United States of America.
You offer this country what it takes to be a 'Wonderfull Land.' Yes, let us say 'with a great people living and working together.'
Go thou, America, go ahead, following in the footsteps of one of thy sons who is now becoming one of thy statesmen.
With this in mind, to whom else could I entrust this letter sent to his Holiness Pope John Paul II when he set foot on Haitian soil for the first time, as well as its acknowledgment by the Vatican?
That letter to Pope John Paul II is intended to draw attention to the problem posed by anti-Black discrimination and its negative repercussions on the advancement of scientific progress in the West, and more precisely in the realm of Optics.
In the Western world, according to Newton's widely accepted theory, white is considered to be the synthesis of all colors. Actually, the opposite is true. White constitutes the analysis or 'visible' decoding of light or color, whereas black is its synthesis or 'invisible' composition.
In other words, darkness or blackness and, we might add, "Black Holes'" - a scientific misnomer designating invisible stars or 'Black Suns' - are a source of energy and light. Scientifically, Industrially and Economically speaking, what an asset !
That basic raw material of light energy culminates, in its most radiant form, in the neutralization of all the colors of the spectrum in the form of usually called "white light."
Therefore "absolute blackness", the absorption of all the colors, is a divisible component of light. Needless to say, Newton's theory gives only a partial interpretation of the notion of light, by excluding black. Our contribution aims at demonstrating that the black color is not only an integral part of the color process, but its true synthesis. Light is therefore shown to be a divisible whole comprising an intensity or color scale in which black is the invisible or 'absorbed' form of the energy in question.
Allow me, SIR, in order to support my statement concerning Black Holes and radiation, to pose a question asked by Hubert Reeves, Doctor of nuclear astrophysics and Scientific Consultant to NASA:
"What would have become of the Sun, if it were plunged into a high temperature radiance like the one that existed at the beginning of the Universe? [our translation]"
"Instead of emitting light, it would absorb it and, in the end, it would be completely reabsorbed into the cosmic fluid."
The cosmic fluid is what, due to an "optical mistake", is called "darkness" or the "blackness of Space". We are talking about the electromagnetic flux, that immeasurable ocean in which the planets and stars are bathed, like the sea which links all the continents together. Darkness is thus "The Sea of Space."
"What would have happened if, instead of an ordinary star like the "White Sun", a Black Hole or "Black Sun" were injected into that primordial radiation?"
"According to Einsteinian Physics, a Black Hole is a place where gravity is so formidably intense that nothing can escape it, not even visible light. Such a hole should suck in and absorb radiation and increase its own mass: E=MC2, always."
"But after Einstein came Bohr, Heisenberg, and Quantum Physic. From then on, nothing was the same as before."
"The Einsteinian version of the Black Hole is equivalent to a statement that the matter inside the Black Hole is definitely there to stay, in that volume of space. Let us quote Hubert Reeves: "Such an absolute statement is thus contrary to the "Quantum spirit", affirming that nothing is definitely localized in one place. There is always a probability of escape. If the enclosing wall is too high, a tunnel will be dug; if the prisoners are patient, they will escape. One has only to wait." [our translation]
"According to that principle, Black Holes "evaporate". Matter constantly escapes as radiation. Black Holes "shine!" Their surfaces behave like those of any body heated to a certain temperature and that radiation endlessly feeds that marvelous "Cosmic Fluid" which, wrongly and in bad faith, people keep calling "Darkness."
Nigra sum "sed" formosa!
Yes, but should we not say instead, I am black "and" comely?
Darkness, which is both source and vehicle of light, does not have to defend itself for being the beautiful and infinitely discreet raw material of the Universe. Darkness is the "Mother of the Universe."
Also, beautiful and discreet art thou, Haiti. Discreet, yes, but never outshone! Just like the Black Virgin who inspires and sheds her love on thee from the hilltop and even beyond Cité Soleil (Sun City).
Our purpose was to offer a more constructive approach aiming at correcting the abusive traditional, so-called scientific, theories of Optics.
It’s like to say that in the exceptional circumstances in which we live today - in the point of view of FINANCE and ENERGY - no exploration in the mid or long term, by the american expertise , of an additional source of energy, at the same time safe and economically profitable, should not be ruled out.
That is why, we wrote to that authentic witness to the signs of this age, His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the prophet of the new era.
Congratulations to You, Sir, and congratulations to the PEOPLE of The United States Of America - for having made it possible for this day of November to come - to mark the beginning of a "New Era of Hope !"
Lucien Bonnet
PLease, SEE :
LETTER TO POPE JOHN-PAUL II
in 'BILL A RI AND THERE WAS LIGHT !
http://www.contact-canadahaiti.ca
Reply
10-14-2008 @ 11:27PM
Shelbz said...
"With that being said... would you rather have a president with military experience, over 30 years of experience in government, and who is currently working with both parties to establish logical and effective economic plans or one worrying about a 6 inch billboard on video games played mostly by people who can't even vote. "
Yea that kinda gave it away, anyway act like a douche it really doesn't bother me at all, I am just glad you are 17 and can't vote.
Reply
10-15-2008 @ 12:35AM
Brad said...
Actually I turn 18 a few days before the election so I'll be voting :)
how am i acting like a douche??
10-14-2008 @ 11:41PM
reno said...
EA Sports- It's in the game!
Whose buying these games? I played these games when I was twenty so if Obama found a place to tag his name, then so be it. Didn't McCain evoke Paris for one of his commercials? What's up with that one? Didn't he open the door to digital manipulation there?
Reply
10-15-2008 @ 3:18PM
Paul K said...
I thinks it's cool Obama recognized a new way to reach voters. The Democratic party tries to actually get more of the populous to vote, unlike the Republican party that has tried to hold up, or even take away the voting rights of the people for years. And this is true.
http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/10/09/news/local/news03.txt
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