HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! I stand before all of you, eager to discuss something near and dear to my heart: celebrities advertising video games. The video game industry has had a long and proud history of having big names endorse their shiny new products. Many believe, including myself, that making video games is just an excuse to have multi-million dollar advertisements including our favorite celebrities. Who could forget the classics: Keanu Reeves on stage at 2019 E3 talking about Cyberpunk 2077, Mr. T’s Nightelf Mohawk, and all the celebrity cameos in the Call of Duty advertisements. Now I could go on and on about how these commercials truly shaped our culture; however, I want to discuss a recent ad I saw for God of War Ragnarok.
Our ad includes Ben Stiller, Lebron James, John Travolta, and each one’s child sitting around a circle in a support group style. Stiller is head to toe in a Kratos outfit including leather armor, white and red body paint, and a massive scar over his left eye. He is discussing how embracing the lifestyle of Kratos has allegedly brought him closer to his son, and encouraging James and Travolta to embrace a similar lifestyle. Naturally, the children are being the snobby dismissive millennials that we expect them to be, but we are not here for them. We are here for celebrities embracing the medium of video games.
It feels a bit weird to have Stiller leading the commercial. With the height of his career being from the early 90s to the late 2000s, most of his fans would be millennials who would rather spend their money on avocado toast and expensive lattes than a video game. Yes, fans of Ben Stiller were probably playing the original God of War games that came out on the PS2, but millennials don’t have any money. It would be foolish to make an advertisement, let alone a video game, aimed at this iced chai-sipping demographic. Stiller still puts in a good performance despite his audience being a bad fit for the product.
I am a bit uncertain if LeBron James needed to be included in this commercial. Sure his fans do enjoy video games, but surely they would rather be playing as LeBron in titles like Multiversus, Fortnite, and whatever spinoff came from Space Jam 2. Some might say he is included in this ad because since LeBron’s basketball skills are fading he is doing everything in his power to stay relevant. Desperately clinging to whatever fame he has left by staring in whatever roles he can get his hands on, and with those monstrous paws he uses to grip basketballs, he can certainly grab a lot of roles. From Space Jam 2 to the remake of House Party to silly mobile games where he fights Father Time, LeBron definitely isn’t acting like a spoiled child crying out for the attention he so rightfully deserves. Honestly, people who think like that are the same fools who think Michael Jordan was better than Lebron. Just pure madness.
However, the true brilliance of this ad is the inclusion of John Travolta. Having the 68-year-old actor confess his love to Kratos will undoubtedly help sell extra copies of God of War Ragnarok. I can see it now. Hoards of Travolta fans, like Linda, rushing out to secure her copy of the title. Who is Linda you might ask? Linda has always been a fan of Travolta since she was a younger teenager. Ever since she saw Grease in 1978, she wanted nothing but to date a bad boy like Danny. She’s dolled up her hair like Sally, dressed head to toe in leather, and ventured to every biker bar she could find. She eventually found a guy named Johnny and tried to tame his heart. They tried to settle down and have kids, but Johnny’s heart was too wild. After a messy divorce, Linda was left with only her dreams of John Travolta and his greaser ways. I know for a fact Linda will see John Travolta and have passions enflamed once more. She will no doubt go to her nearest Best Buy, and drop six hundred dollars on a new PS5 and a copy of God of War Ragnarok despite not being able to set up a DVD player without her nephew’s help. All to impress John Travolta even though he has not, nor will ever, meet Linda. This advertisement is truly working overtime to reach untapped markets.
Now some might say these advertisements are an overindulgence. In a time of economical struggle, having a marketing budget that dwarfs the production cost of the game could be considered irresponsible. Having celebrities parade around dressed as Kratos whose audience is probably not into video games could be considered wasteful. Paying them like royalty could be considered insulting to the staff who make the games and are overworked and underpaid. To all those critics, I have one thing to say: Oh my God, just shut up.
How dare you criticize a multi-billion dollar corporation. How dare you criticize these mega-rich celebrities, they have feelings too. How dare you criticize the artistry that goes into creating these masterful commercials that are fully designed to push expensive hardware. Why can’t you just have fun with something? Why do you have to keep reminding us about the social collapse of society as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Why do you have to make everything political? Such a buzz kill. Maybe you need to start dressing up as Kratos and attending Ben Stiller’s meetings. It would certainly do you more good than getting furious at this commercial and writing a sarcastic hit piece on it. But who am I to judge? I just appreciate good advertisements.