Game of War: A False Representation of its Product

If you ask someone what an ad­vertisement is, they would probably say something along the lines of it being a promotion of a certain prod­uct that company is trying to sell. However, with current media, the way advertisements are being pre­sented are beginning to be further and further from what the actual product is.

A most recent case with this was during the 2015 Super Bowl. One of the most entertaining parts of the Super Bowl is watching the, over-the-top, flashy, and ridiculously funny advertisements showcasing various products. However, some advertise­ments can be so over the top and so farfetched from the actual product that misrepresentation of their prod­uct can occur and the end result is the consumer is being lied to.

One of the advertisements in par­ticular from this collection of Super Bowl advertisements that fail to ac­curately portray their product is the Game of War advertisements. In most of the advertisements, you have ac­tress Kate Upton prance around a battlefield where there are thousands of soldiers fighting each other. You see fire raining down the sky as you hear the cries of soldiers going at each other. This advertisement is fun and entertaining to watch; however, this is a clear misrepresentation of their product.

The truth of the matter is that Game of War is a pay-to-win smart phone game where the player creates fortresses, towns, and other struc­tures and try to keep it flourishing whilst warding off enemy armies. The player does not participate in any of the battles but just sees a complete view of their fortress and maintains its defenses by throwing real money on options to help sustain your armies faster than the other players. In short, the advertisements for Game of War makes the consumer inter­ested in the product, however the advertisement fails to accurately rep­resent the game and is flat out lying to the consumer.

Advertisements like these are damaging to the market and to the consumer. Game of War is a mediocre pay-to-win game that uses fancy ad­vertisements to help sell its product. Though it is nice to look at, it is not an accurate representation of the product and is there for lying to the consumer. Consumers look to ads for information regarding a product. They then use that information to determine whether or not their mon­ey will be well spent or if they should just keep looking at other products. There are alternatives, especially with games like Game of War. The smart-phone market app stores are com­pletely over saturated with games with these pay to win type games and Game of War is no different.

Consumers are the heart and soul of a capitalist society and therefore determine how it will work. Consum­ers make their voices heard with their wallets, and by allowing yourself to be swindled into putting money into a product that deceives its customers, you allow other companies to follow their business model and lie to the consumer as well.