In the lead-up to the release of the PlayStation VR2, Sony ran a marketing campaign to hype up fans. One of the ads featured musician Ozzy Osbourne, who also promoted the VR2 headset on Twitter. One of his tweets, posted on February 20, stated: “Did this spot with @Playstation team. We had a lot of fun. Their new VR2 is really amazing.” The tweet also included a PS VR2 video ad featuring Osbourne.
The seemingly innocuous message caught the attention of the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority. The main complaint is that the tweet did not adequately identify itself as marketing material. On August 9, The ASA concluded that the “ad must not appear again in the form complained about.” Furthermore, Sony and Osbourne were also warned to “ensure that in future their ads were obviously identifiable as marketing communications and made clear their commercial intent.”
A little trouble from a little tweet
When the complaint was made, Sony responded by stating that it believed the word “spot” in the now-deleted tweet “would be clearly understood by Twitter users to reference an ad or advertising spot.” To bolster its case, Sony also provided media articles that use the word “spot” when referring to TV ads.
This wasn’t enough for the ASA and it ruled that the word was “not sufficient to clearly indicate to consumers that the tweet was part of a commercial relationship between Sony and Ozzy Osbourne and that the tweet was therefore an ad.” The ASA concluded that “the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 2.1, 2.3 and 2.4 (Recognition of marketing communications).” The video ad is still viewable on the PlayStation YouTube channel.
Overall, it seems like the entire issue is just an oversight on Sony and Osbourne’s part. Though the ordeal may be a little bump in the road for the PS VR2, its first year on the market has been relatively strong. Titles like Tetris Effect, Synapse, Horizon Call of the Mountain, Resident Evil Village and VR Skater continue to make a strong case for the headset.
