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« Video Games: August 2008 | Main | Video Games: November 2008 » Video GamesObama Runs Ads in Video Games Now that you can get online with your game console, it was inevitable that the companies would start selling ad space. I don't even actually play Xbox and i've been inundated with various movie ads just by being in the same room as someone who is playing a game. Remember when having cable meant watching tv without commercials? *sigh* Anyway, Barack Obama, being the savvy modern-day politician he is and having tons of cash from all the donations, has become the first presidential candidate to run ads in online games. Unprecedented in US presidential politics, the video game buy is targeted mainly at young adult males who are difficult to reach through more traditional campaign advertising. "The 18-to-34-year-old male is the mainstream demographic for the hard-core video gamer," said Van Baker, an analyst for Gartner Inc, a technology market research firm in San Jose, California. "They're hard to get to because they don't watch much TV and they don't read a lot, so it's a good venue to get that segment." The ads appear in games as banners or billboards with an image of Obama, the slogan "Early voting has begun," and a reference to his VoteForChange.com web site. The site allows users to register online to vote, obtain absentee voter information and find a polling location. I don't know how much people pay attention to advertisment in general. It seems like they would pay even less attention when their main focus is to get online and shoot people. What really struck me is that males 18-34 don't read. That's sad. Between books, magazines, newspapers, and the internet, it's just pathetic that there's an age group spanning 17 years that doesn't read "a lot". I suppose they were with Sarah Palin at being outraged to name some things she reads. Except, being the types to not read or watch tv, they prolly have no clue about the incident. Is Obama sure he actually wants these people to vote? By min | October 16, 2008, 1:43 PM | Video Games | Comments (4)| Link « Video Games: August 2008 | Main | Video Games: November 2008 » |