OK, help. I don't get it:
It feels a bit .. well, sexist and even racist to me, but I'm sure I'll be accused of overreacting or something. But really. What the hell does this advert mean!?
UPDATE 1: The camera icon is the clue. Sony is saying that PSP-owners have white girlfriends who do amateur pics? Wow.
UPDATE 2: Kotaku also picking up on this, also puzzled.
UPDATE 3: Suggestion to Sony: "your partner's naughty bits" would cover off everyone's skin colour, sexual preference, gender and even laywers. It doesn't take much thought to be inclusive, but it does take a bit of care.
It means the PSP still doesn't have any good games to talk about :(
...not till Loco Roco anyway.
Posted by: Sifter | February 28, 2006 at 11:03
The whole PSP marketing campaign is based on the UI Icons (you know, the ones that your sis put into that video ;) ).
It's a wee bit obscure, but means they can produce quite a large number of "different" adverts, each focussing on the different functions of the PSP..
Though this one does imply that all PSP owners have racy pictures of their girlfriends on their memory sticks.. I'm guessing that you don't have A-T? ;)
Posted by: Shard | February 28, 2006 at 11:10
crazy british! and your crazy language!
Posted by: bigwig | February 28, 2006 at 11:11
OH! I *get* it. The camera icon. So boys can carry around nudie pix of their girlfriends, who all have pale skin and tan lines.
OK.
FRACKING OBSCURE, man. This is not marketing to the masses! :)
Grr. Grr. Grr.
Posted by: Alice | February 28, 2006 at 11:13
How absolutely crap.
Posted by: Jen | February 28, 2006 at 11:17
I saw this on the tube on Saturday too, and didn't understand it either. You beat me to it Alice!
Posted by: Jez | February 28, 2006 at 11:35
Oh yeah, the other advert I saw was about a football game. Way to get the female audience in there!
Posted by: Jez | February 28, 2006 at 11:36
girls dont play games, dont be silly!
Posted by: will | February 28, 2006 at 11:50
Well it's got you talking/thinking about the PSP. Somewhere, an advertising bod has a rye smile :-)
Posted by: BigC | February 28, 2006 at 11:56
There's that other one (that probably has the camera icon on it as well - that'd make sense) which goes a bit like "VIEW NO WAY DELETE VIEW OH MY GOD DELETE VIEW COOL VIEW NO WAY DELETE VIEW NO WAY DELETE VIEW OH WOW DELETE VIEW"
... which took me the better part of half a day to figure out.
So not impressed. Or understanding.
Posted by: Dan Hon | February 28, 2006 at 13:28
However, the thing with Tube adverts is that they stay there for a month at a time, and you're stuck staring at the same ones each and every morning. So much so that they bleed into your unconsciousness and eventually you gain some form of understanding, even if it's not the correct one!
Posted by: Shard | February 28, 2006 at 13:40
Pain :)
Posted by: Alice | February 28, 2006 at 14:33
Could it be a build up to the release of the white PSP?
Posted by: Jeremy | February 28, 2006 at 14:36
Maybe, but that's not what white bits are referring to. That's WAY too deep.
Nope, I think this is just games marketing at its most simplistic: appeal to the 16-24 year old male because That's Who We Know.
Snore.
Posted by: Alice | February 28, 2006 at 14:46
Or it could be suggesting you get your girlfriend naked, and press her up against the poster.
: )
Posted by: WandringSoul | February 28, 2006 at 14:50
*vote*
Posted by: Shard | February 28, 2006 at 15:05
Wow Sonys ads sure do suck unless your a 14 year old boy I guess :( Silly adverts though, We want to see games, not stuff my phone can do.
Posted by: angel | February 28, 2006 at 15:45
There should be an ad right next to it that says:
You boyfriend's giblets here for posting your white bits.
Posted by: Beckie | February 28, 2006 at 15:51
"your partners naughty bits" Ick. Sorry - have to agree to disagree here. Yes - the term 'white' could be seen as racially offensive, but isn't it more a statement about the sad facts of modern life that people will instantly cry 'OMG it's racist' rather than taking it at face value?
I'd also guess that the percentage of male PSP owners with risque photos of their girlfriends outweighs by a solar ton the amount of girlfriends with risque pics of their bf on them... and hence the ad accurately targets the demographic most likely to associate and respond. I'm afraid I for one am a bit tired of lowest-common-denominator TV/radio/press/ads - let's have a bit of edge. If people don't 'get it' - they'll talk about it - as this post demonstrates - I think it's a perfect ad - perfect in that it does exactly what it set out to do.
Posted by: WandringSoul | February 28, 2006 at 16:08
Is the reason I don't get this because I'm American? I feel ooooooold! Make it stop, PSP, please!
Posted by: Guilded Lily | February 28, 2006 at 16:10
who cares? PSP's are over-rated
Posted by: Citygent | February 28, 2006 at 16:39
Gotta disagree, W_S :)
From my standpoint, it's just plain sad. Makes me think of 'Nuts' magazine. It makes SOME business sense - if Nuts readers are your target and only market - but it sure as hell doesn't *expand* the market, which is what the industry needs if it wants to continue to grow.
Or - take that ad and put it in Nuts magazine. Perfect. But for a tube station? Not good enough.
Posted by: Alice | February 28, 2006 at 17:24
"which is what the industry needs if it wants to continue to grow"
But, to play Devil's Advocate, it's not as if these ads are going to cause the industry to shrink and die, is it?
Posted by: Paul O | February 28, 2006 at 17:57
I understood the ad straight away.
Clearly I am the target audience.
Oh dear.
Posted by: Jonathan | February 28, 2006 at 18:01
I thought "white bits" meant underwear, not skin.
Posted by: Skorpion | February 28, 2006 at 19:10
It seems to me that Sony doesn't want to expand its current target demographic at all.
Posted by: PaperPlane | February 28, 2006 at 23:06
I don't understand the "here" thing. Do they want to put the "white bits" on the poster? Or is the poster supposed to be a depiction of the PSP's screen?
Posted by: kamagurka | March 01, 2006 at 09:55
Alice, I'm going to disagree once more - sure this may be an ad worthy of Nuts magazine, but you're taking the ad out of context. There's not just going to be this one ad, ever, for the PSP - this is one of many ads, and this one in particular hits a very specific target audience - in this case X% of people using the Tube station - they're not trying to talk to everyone on the platform with this ad.
Posted by: WandringSoul | March 01, 2006 at 11:06
Accepted the advert is shit, but it's got you talking about it, and even if you don't like it, it's still done the job and got you saying PSP.
My question is slightly different though, and it goes like this:
Why the hell would anyone put a nude photo of their girlfriend on a PSP in the first place?
Seriously?
I have both a PSP and a lovely girlfriend, and were i to have nude photos of her, i can think of a million places i'd put them before on my PSP.....
Maybe I am getting old. Maybe this is what the kids do at lunchtime now.
Posted by: Cris | March 01, 2006 at 11:56
really big white space on the ad ?!
maybe sony would like to see people writing
and drawing ... there girlfriends white
bits (= shiny smiles ??) ... to the empty spot.
a bit like those street sticker with the
"hello my name is ___________"
i dont know, but since i saw this ad, i
feel like i urgently need a psp ...**
mmm - NO I DONT !!!
Posted by: bob | March 01, 2006 at 13:31
in the business it's called "pushing multimedia features to cover up the fact that there AREN'T ANY FREAKING GAMES!!!" advertising.
i did understand the ad straight away but it's stupid and not appealing to the masses.
it's funny what different approaches nintendo and sony have adopted. sony are very much "if it ain't broke don't fix it". pretty much like the blockbuster movie recipe. has it got tits? check. a carchase? check. big explosions? check. excellent.. now... how much do we have left for the plot?
Posted by: tentonipete | March 01, 2006 at 13:53
Anyone who still thinks that any advertising is good advertising is obviously missing the point that the only thing that's actually been said about the PSP here is that it's as pointless as these ads.
There's a 6 storey PSP ad in Brighton on the side of a building that just says "find out how we got here".
Um? As far as I know the PSP got to its current point by having Nintendo release a better console with a better line-up. What exactly are these ads supposed to be making us think of?
Maybe a big empty space is the best symbol of the PSP's market presence right now.
Posted by: Seb Potter | March 02, 2006 at 08:18
Hey, Dyke inclusive advertising. Cool!
Posted by: k | March 02, 2006 at 18:03
it means guys will prefer having a pic of thier girl on the psp than being with her (he would rather play with the psp)
Posted by: sean | March 06, 2006 at 12:25
White bits is referring to your girlfriend's underwear. Period.
Posted by: DarthMoridin | March 09, 2006 at 01:01
"in the business it's called "pushing multimedia features to cover up the fact that there AREN'T ANY FREAKING GAMES!!!" advertising."
Okay - I have to respond. I'm having a great time with Kingdom of Paradise, Legend of Heroes, SSX on Tour, GTA Liberty City, and Burnout. I'm not quite sure how that equals "no freaking games". Not to mention Daxter, a new Untold Legends, Mortal Kombat, From Russia with Love and MORE!
Check here for the complete line up coming soon! http://psp.ign.com/index/release.html
I sold my DS because there was nothing to play except old GBA stuff and I could use an SP for that! Oh Wow - a Mario Kart remake with graphics so bad and a screen so dark that my eyes bled. And some of us just aren't into "Animal Crossing" or scratching the screen so Princess Peach can frown at someone - so that's about it!
Regarding the ad - it is NOT racist. It's about her bra and panties for god's sake. And it is targeted at men - they would be wise to make another one with the woman's reponse as listed above.
I thought "Your boyfriend's giblets here for posting your white bits." was hysterical.
$0.02
Posted by: EC | March 09, 2006 at 03:25
You guys blind? The white is a blank canvas , probably intended for either a: to tempt real graffiti artists to ad there "street cred" art onto. Or b: a follow up more controlled graffiti phase in the campaign, much like their last unsuccessfull one. They probablly had lots of ideas that could not be rolled out during the fore-mentioned campaign because of the backlash, so this could be a way they can follow through.
My perspective
oM
Posted by: oM | March 09, 2006 at 04:54
LOL
No, white bits are the bits left white by a bikini on a white girl with a tan.
It's a common (slightly laddish) phrase over in the UK.
Posted by: Alice | March 09, 2006 at 05:14
Why not let sony tell us wtf is going on? avertiseing is supost to attract customers not make them Jump on to train tracks and lose more customers. who ever is behind this I hope, is well and truly gone from sony or there gone.
maybe they shuld have an add campane about there shitty avertiseing department
Posted by: j DIGBY | March 09, 2006 at 10:14
Maybe the white bits refers to lingerie? But whatever it means, it fails in delivering a message.
Posted by: I hope I don't have to register | March 09, 2006 at 13:59
Guys, "WHITE BITS" is slang for tits/vagina. The advert just suggests you can have naked pictures of your girlfriend on your PSP. It is absolutely not racist or insensitive to it target audience - people in London, England.
Posted by: DS Fanboy | March 09, 2006 at 14:44
Er - not all people in London, England are white, you know.
Posted by: | March 09, 2006 at 16:47
Maybe its an incredibly poor translation of something thats really funny in Japanese?
Posted by: Liam | March 09, 2006 at 17:30
I think this ad is retarded, first of all porn is for losers, real men see naked chicks. And second of all, gamers don't have girlfriends
Posted by: God | March 09, 2006 at 20:25
"Er - not all people in London, England are white, you know."
Yes being a Londoner I can confirm this. I can also confirm "white-bits" is term of phrase/slang for the tits, ass and front-bottom. Read other posts to find out how it was derived.
You will notice that the camera icon in the bottom right of the poster is enlarged/selected. It is "here" Sony wants you to put photos (using the new PSP camera) of your girlfrend's white bits if you should so desire.
Not the most high-brow of advertising campaigns. I'de argue that the advert is sexist rather than racist (as white-bits is common(?) term of phrase.)
A more PC version might be:
"Store your partner's light bits here"
But in any case you'de have to be a hypersensitive moron to get offended at this.
Posted by: Dave | March 17, 2006 at 23:29
wow. i used to joke about how pr0n would be the saviour of the PSP. so it's not a joke then?
oh and in australia we say pink bits. White bits?? sounds pretty nasty to me :(
Posted by: booojajah | March 30, 2006 at 02:45
wtf they want me to cum on my psp?
Posted by: Zacky V | June 21, 2006 at 20:56
Based on the comments I think Sony acheived it's purpose. The PSP is many things to many people. The blank canvas is your masterpiece waiting to be completed.
Posted by: M. Jedediah | July 14, 2007 at 23:43
Am I the only one who understood "white bits" to mean teeth... meaning smile?
This is not racist, nor risque, it's just not quite clear enough for the modern world.
Posted by: Zeratul | October 02, 2009 at 07:49
Yes you're the only one who ''understood'' that, but the problem is you DON'T understand.
It refers to a womans tits and pussy, not her fucking smile.
Also, I'd like to respond to ''gamers don't have girlfriends''.
That's about as accurate as saying ''people who watch movies don't like cheese''.
It's a statement without any backing, that you say because you're what the hip-hop culture would simply refer to as a 'hater'.
Have a nice day, hater. Tell your superhot girlfriend (who doesn't exist, which is why you made the hater comment in the first place out of loneliness) to send me pics of her white bits.
Posted by: V | September 19, 2010 at 18:10