So earlier today, its seems that some truth in advertising came out after someone noticed some too good to be true graphics for the latest installment of Tiger Woods’ golf game.  Electronic Arts seems to have used the visuals and video from the Xbox 360 version of Tiger Woods 09, while having the Wii label overlaid on the screen, basically making it look like EA is proclaiming those are the graphics you will see in the Wii version of the game.  When they were caught, the response was unbelievably truthful, “Wii footage would not be of broadcast quality, and the originating agency had thought it preferable to use the Xbox footage”.

Well, that is pretty candid.  To actually admit that they (EA’s Ad Agency) used Xbox 360 footage of the game, because the Wii version did not look good enough for broadcast quality is amazing.  But is doing this as bad as everyone has made it out to be.  Doesn’t all advertising fall under this same cloud, if maybe not as blatent.  I mean, we all have watched TV and have seen the ShamWow guy more than once tell us that his special cleaning rag will absorb all the wine that someone spills on a rug, all the way down to the padding underneath the carpet.  Do we actually believe that to be true.  Wouldn’t someone else have figured that out long before now, and made all the money that the ShamWow people are making.

Electronic Arts and their ad agency are guilty of no more than any advertiser that stretches, bends and molds the truth to fit their goal of selling product.  Electronic Arts felt that the Wii version of the game did not show well on TV, so they used a different version of the game, while being just ambiguous enough to never actually make it clear over what version of the game was in the visuals.  We just took it upon us to see the Wii label and assume that the version on the screen was for the Wii.  Sneaky?  Yes.  Pushing the boundaries of trust?  Yes, but again, it is not as bad as those that feel EA should be fined or other punishment brought about on them.  If that was the case, I want my money back for every time I order a burger at a store and mine never looks the same as that one in the picture on the menu.  Theirs looks great, while mine looks like a steam press was dropped on it.

Advertising is about illusion, and finding a way to sell you a product.  Advertising will always try to push the boundaries of reality as far as it can without running afoul of the law.  Nothing works as well as it does when you see it demoed on TV, and the same could be said of this advertisement.  I just think that EA is catching a little more flak then the stunt was worth, and if anything will probably help sell more copies of either the 360 or Wii versions of the game.  It might even boost both versions.  So when you are sitting up late at night trying to log into WoW, or are waiting for a non-teabagging game of Halo 3 and you see the Brown and Serve cooking bags for the Microwave, just remember that they won’t work, but it doesn’t make it illegal or all that bad.  They are just perfecting the illusion.