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EA has been told its Tiger Woods 09 ad in which Tiger Woods is shown swinging a Wii handset, while background footage of the game is shown and the message “available on all formats” is displayed” must now be shown again in its current form.
According to the ASA, a viewer complained that the background footage, which he believed was taken from the Xbox 360 version, gave a misleading impression of the Wii game’s graphics.
This complaint has been upheld and the ASA ruled that the ad must not be broadcast again in its current form.
The response section on the ASA website notes: “Electronic Arts confirmed that the footage in the ad was taken from the Xbox 360 version of the game. They pointed out that Tiger Woods was seen using a Wiimote throughout the ad and the only branding at the end of the ad was that of Nintendo Wii. They said, to avoid any confusion, they added text to inform viewers that the game was available on all formats. Electronic Arts maintained that they were demonstrating game action that was possible on all formats and did not show any gameplay that was impossible on a Wii.”
Rather bizarrely the response goes on to add: “They explained that Wii footage would not be of broadcast quality, and the originating agency had thought it preferable to use the Xbox footage, which was closer to broadcast definition, than to “up the resolution” of Wii footage to broadcast quality.”
Presumably the ad was intended to be broadcast in high definition, hence the comments about needing to “up the resolution” of the Wii gameplay footage. If not then it’s rather damning statement on the visual quality of Tiger Woods 09 on Wii.
