/ Cory Doctorow / 10:52 pm Thu Feb 17, 2011

Minecraft commercial -- funny, tasteless

Martin Waltz's funny -- and slightly tasteless -- ad for Minecraft certainly seems to capture the obsessive fearlessness the game inspires in its adherents.

Minecraft - "Diamonds" (Thanks, Riley!)

 

44

  2. There’s something pervy about it, I just can’t tell what…which makes it brilliant as far as I can see…kinda’ like everything that’s wrong and right with pop culture right now…

    1. Pervy? I didn’t get that vibe from it, but maybe you’re using the word differently?

      Maybe the “Diamond” refference slightly went over people’s heads? I mean he’s “made of diamonds” so the kid took a cube off of him. Makes sense. Really weird, David O’reilly style sense :D

  4. I understand the concept, but it really turns me off to the game. Seriously had a fantastic day and this thing sticks with me in a way I can barely understand and does not make me curious about the game.

    It’s like a Michel Gondry concept without the whimsy.

    1. Reminds me of a Sony Playstation commercial. It’s done exactly what it was supposed to, which was make you aware of the product, and stick with you for a long, very long time. I still remember a commercial I saw in high school for the “Playstaion 9” which involved a kid sitting on an urban roof staring into a glass orb labeled “PS”. This kind of advertising isn’t supposed to make you go out and buy their product, it’s supposed to make you think about it and mentally dissect it, discuss it with other people (much like art).

  6. Great commercial!! It is a commercial for the people that already play MC though. It’s kinda like a beer commercial, there not trying to get more people to drink…There just keeping the ones that already do.. Diamonds!!!! LOVE IT!

  7. It’s pervy because it’s a commercial that only appeals to those who are already addicted to the game.

    1. Neither am I. When I saw the word tasteless and saw a black man in pain, I immediately assumed it was going to be comparing Minecraft to African diamond mining.

      (Now I’ve spent like, five minutes trying to decide if this makes me racist or just oversensitive.)

  12. Love the mindless cackling when the kid runs away with the diamond. That is EXACTLY what I do when I finally get my hands on some.

  13. Were it truly accurate the kid would run into a cavern full of lava and Creepers on his way back to stash the loot.

  14. Shit. My 14 year old just started playing this, and from what I saw it seemed fairly harmless (he showed me things he was building, which seemed kinda interesting)… bad move?

  16. jesus, this needs a lot of fridge logic to understand.
    should I start playing minecraft just to understand these jokes?

  17. I don’t see it as tasteless. Black people are a good source of diamonds and niacin.

    Seriously, I wonder if there is a different response to this commercial for Americans than other folks? I find the commercial just kind of kooky and funny, like many video game ads these days.

  19. The joke is that Minecraft players go nuts when they see diamonds. If you haven’t played the game you’ll have no effing idea what is going on in that commercial though.

    2. Yeah, I’ve never played Minecraft (and I’ll further embarrass myself here by saying I’ve never heard of it before). That just grossed me out. Not as disturbing as that zombie video game trailer though. That just made me feel really depressed.

  20. I would find it tasteless were there not so many adult men who fill the aggressive bling and posturing stereotype.
    I have never played Minecraft, but I’ve learned enough through osmosis that I got the joke. I think it is hilarious. Especially since the man is so strong and attractive, and the little boy looks just like my little brothers and their friends in years past when they were too little for their clothes and looked like zombies from marathoning video games and subsisting on cola and cheese puffs.

  22. This is terribly offensive. Everyone knows you need a steel pickaxe to mine diamonds, and that the ore drops a diamond gem, not a block.

  25. “Yeah! And it don’t stop! Cuz it’s 187 on the M.F.’in cop!”
    Dr. Dre and Snoop’s Deep Cover is the background music. ;-)

  26. Yeah, this is sort of preaching to the choir. It’s like if a Dwarf Fortress advert started with someone mentioning to their other half that they’re going to get some new gloves, and the other half saying they’ll handle it. Cut to the other half chasing a cat with a sledgehammer.

    1. A commercial like that would make me want to play Dwarf Fortress, and I already know it is more work for me to play than to read about playing.

  28. Why is that black guy kicking a garbage truck…?

    I kinda got the joke, don’t play minecraft but its around so you grasp the concept. Also that kid looks like a straight haired version of me that age :)

  29. Kinda funny, but yeah, not a very good ad.

    That said, he could have run into something worse than Char (yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and call that person Char).

    Something a lot worse…tsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…

  31. You’d have to be a true kid of the 90’s to fully understand this ad. Back in the Xtreme days, when any ad for a videogame or anything aimed at young boys had to be over the top and feature at least one repulsive thing to freak out your mother in some manner.
    For a prime example, see commercial for Yoshi’s Island (one of the most lovely, tasteful games ever): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AyE3EXTj58

    1. Oh man… that commercial stuck with me for years after I forgot what it was even advertising. I’m really confused now, by a mixture of feeling nostalgic and wishing I hadn’t been reminded of it.

Comments are closed.