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Sony Advertising Has Shown a Noticeable Increase in Their Representation of People of Colour. I Admire That.

HebrewHammer

HebrewHammer

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,524
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One thing I've noticed about the PS5 marketing push is their prioritization of POC.

I work in an industry (advertising) that is notoriously white - so much so, that we launched an intern initiative to combat it. And while I myself am white, I can't help but feel as if we're limited in our point of view as a result. It leads to less observant, relevant and approachable work.

But recently, Sony has done some things that stand out to me (and others):

1) Miles Morales is the flagship launch title for the PS5, featuring a black / hispanic hero.
2) Travis Scott has become the voice of PlayStation, both in launch commercials (of immense media value) and future creative prospects.
3) Michael B. Jordan is now among the most influential people to be provided with a PS5 well in advance of launch.
4) Naomi Osaka provided some thoughts on her history with PlayStation. (Thanks psionotic and Pai Pai Master)
5) The first PS5 spot / commercial featured a black female actress. (Thanks jon bones)
6) @MarcusRashford was provided with some hands-on time as well. (Thanks get2sammyb)

I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this push and how they feel about it.
 
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Skel1ingt0n

Skel1ingt0n

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,722
In before WhiteIsComing.jpeg?

That said, have a buddy who's black who mentioned something similar the other day. His comment was how excited his kids are to get to play a launch game that stars a black main character AND is a teenager so it's relatable.
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

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Oct 25, 2017
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Miles being a launch game feels really good, he's one of the most interesting characters of the insomniac spider-verse
 
psionotic

psionotic

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May 29, 2019
2,085
Tennis player Naomi Osaka, who is half Japanese, half Haitian, is also a brand ambassador.
 
Pai Pai Master

Pai Pai Master

Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,280
Atlanta GA
reminds me of PS2 gen tbh. we need Ludacris to name drop PS5 in a song

it's good. playstation's always had a very diverse player base and the ads should reflect it.
 
brawndolicious

brawndolicious

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,918
I think this has been a general trend for all big tech brands. Ever since those old ipod commercials.

Young people don't like the look of homogeneity.
 
jon bones

jon bones

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Oct 25, 2017
25,998
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naomi osaka is also in PS5 ads, and that first ad featured a young black woman as the focal point

it is very cool , no doubt about it
 
Phellps

Phellps

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Oct 25, 2017
10,800
It's really nice to see them featuring people of color so prominently in their marketing campaign. I hope that also means they feature a lot of people of color in their marketing teams as well
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

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DC5remy said:
I still wasn't sure about it being white for reasons like this. Is that weird?
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lH1wtel.jpg
 
get2sammyb

get2sammyb

Editor at Push Square
Verified
Oct 27, 2017
3,006
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Looks like they've got a video with Dr Marcus Rashford MBE coming up soon, too:

 

KayonXaikyre

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,984
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything it's more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop, the Rock, and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
 
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Akelisrain

Akelisrain

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Oct 30, 2017
2,416
Bel Air MD
The moment in the Miles Morales trailer I saw the Puerto Rican flag, I cried. I am glad to finally see some minorities and I hope the trend continues everywhere.
 
Kuro

Kuro

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Oct 25, 2017
20,591
Hopefully this means Naughty Dog won't keep killing off black people or hiring white people to do black characters' voices.
 
BabyDontHurtMe

BabyDontHurtMe

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Dec 9, 2018
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Sony's marketing this generation seems to have placed an emphasis on personalities rather than brand identity. PlayStation is a ubiquitous brand already, but we need influential people to tell you why the product is great, and it looks like Sony is doing just that. Not only that, but the faces are predominantly black or people of color, which is certainly a shift from the industry focusing on white men for the past decade or so.
 
sredgrin

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Feels like you're giving them a lot of credit , but it's a nice foot forward.
 
RisingStar

RisingStar

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Oct 8, 2019
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It's not just a PlayStation thing, but brands are trying to become more synonymous with being lifestyle products these days and this is an excellent and progressive way to do so. Being more inclusive and exclusive both at the same time.
 
Wing Scarab

Wing Scarab

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Nov 1, 2017
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KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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I came in to say this. Means fuck all if black people aren't being given the same opportunities as white people. And please don't say it's a start because Sony has been doing this same trend since the PS2 days.
 
Arta

Arta

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,445
I'm loving it too! It's easy to be cynical and say they are only doing this because of BLM and Miles Morales marketability this year, but it's great to see us up there.

Don't forget this ad:

 
Hey Please

Hey Please

Avenger
Oct 31, 2017
22,824
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Credit where it is due but realistically, this is easy to do where the zeitgeist is progressive leaning. It is the same thing I have seen outwardly from MS and then the MS Brazil thing happened.

Please remember, corporations are not your friend.
 
zedox

zedox

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,215
KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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This. All of this.
Hopefully others see that this is the actual change people of color need. Black people have always been part of marketing. Black culture influences a lot of what's "popular" so... Yea. But Yea, I agree with you 100%
 
RedRum

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KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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Thank you. With no offense to the OP, just reading the thread title is cringe as fuck. A piece of plastic is synonymous with black people because they hired black people to advertise a piece of plastic?
 
Convasse

Convasse

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Oct 26, 2017
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Black culture is easy to market because we're hip. That's been known. Now show us black folks in positions of power/influence within the publisher and within the development studios. Insomniac seems to have done a good job with Miles, but I can't say fully without playing. But how does Insomniac's internal make-up reflect diversity of thought and ethnic make-up? It's one thing to bring in culture consultants and another to have the culture innately cultivated under your own roof.
 

Dis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,937
Honestly I'm so glad this generation we had a push for other types of characters for games, the ps3 generation was full of white bald men (yeah like the meme collage haha) that I was sick of all of it, the ps3/360 generation will forever be in my memory as the generation of white bald guys and brown textures. Ps4/xbox one generation has been a lot lot better, people of colour, a bunch of women leading games which is also fucking awesome! I'm actually glad we got there after years of being told games won't sell with anyone but a white male as the playable character. Even if it took dragging ubisoft and others kicking and screaming into adding female playable characters I'm glad we got there!

Now I hope we can get a bunch more games with people of colour and all different genders etc, it's time we pushed this stuff forward because while people may not believe it, games can have a big fundamental effect on the future perception of real world stuff, when kids play a game as a person or colour or a different gender, or anyone from the lgbtq+ community, they grow up understanding it as the normal thing it is and not the thing that a lot of older bigots think it is today, it'll help future generations to be able to see more stories from those points of view and I'm definitely willing to support games that push for it.
 
Sandfox

Sandfox

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Oct 25, 2017
24,743
KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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This
 
Soulful Crow

Soulful Crow

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While I definitely think the diversity is dope, I'd like to see less POC constantly portrayed as consumers, and more represented within the actual company/dev teams/leadership.
 
Soulful Crow

Soulful Crow

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294
Chicago, IL
KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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This all day!
 
Another

Another

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Oct 23, 2019
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KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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Agreed. Anything short of this is tokenism.
 
OP
OP
HebrewHammer

HebrewHammer

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Oct 27, 2017
2,524
Chicago
KayonXaikyre said:
Huh? lol. I'm black and I gotta say I don't care who gets these consoles early. If anything is more copping out to me. Just cuz you give a black guy a PS5 doesn't suddenly make you a champion for the race lol. Miles Morales is just a character that had a movie who happens to be popular and black. Xbox had Snoop and the Rock and all of that too and that doesn't matter either to me lol. Black people have been a marketing tool for a long ass time for supposedly being "trendy" and "cool". Showing a black person playing a PS5 doesn't push us forward as a race, it helps sells PS5s to whatever demographics they are aiming for as does any celebrity presence.

Let's see some black people given jobs in leadership roles, leads in making games, and being given a chance to show their vision on large projects. Then, that's something to talk about and if they've done that too and I've missed that I apologize and it would be worthy of praise.
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I think that's a valid point. As a white person, I felt that Sony was aligning their product with people of color. That to me read as diversification in advertising - which admittedly is rare. But I also know it can be read as profiting off of people of color.

Tricky subject - but I hear you. I think that's entirely fair.
 
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