It's a bad week for ads for Sony's PlayStation Vita. Just a day after the console maker pulled out a YouTube video that led many users to point out foul over the ad's sexist nature, Sony is forced to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that it makes false claims about PS Vita in its advertisements.
Although Sony refuses to admit that its PS Vita advertisements contained misleading claims about the product, the company agreed to offer either a $25 refund or a $50 voucher for any of its games to any customer who bought a Vita since it was launched in late 2011.
"Although we have a strong difference of opinion with the FTC as to the message that PS Vita purchasers took from that advertising, we decided to settle the FTC's inquiry in order to focus on the PlayStation 4's momentum into this holiday, where PlayStation Vita continues to play an important role," says Sony in a statement.
A complaint filed against Sony by the FTC accuses Sony of making false and misleading claims about the "game-changing" nature of PS Vita, which Sony advertised as being a "remote play" console where users can pause their games in PlayStation 3 and pick up where they left off in PS Vita. However, the FTC says this feature that headlined Sony's ads was only available for a limited number of games. And even then, it varied significantly from game to game. For instance, the FTC says gamers can only save 'MLB 12: The Show' to PS Vita once they have completed all nine innings of the game in PS 3.
Moreover, FTC accuses Sony of failing to inform customers that for them to be able to use the cross-platform gaming feature, they have to buy two copies of the game, one for PS 3 and another for PS Vita. The complaint also says that Sony's ads falsely implied that gamers who bought the 3G Vita, which costs $50 more, could go into live multiplayer mode via 3G when in fact they could not.
"As we enter the year's biggest shopping period, companies need to be reminded that if they make product promises to consumers - as Sony did with the 'game changing' features of its PS Vita - they must deliver on those pledges," Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, says.
This comes hot on the heels of another controversial Sony advertisement for the same handheld console that has generated a lot of uproar throughout the Internet. The ad, which some people have called "sexist" and "dumb as dirt," comes at an inopportune time for Sony as the gaming industry is embroiled in a heated debate over the treatment of females who are getting more involved in a culture that was once dominated by males.
The ad has since been pulled from YouTube, but one user was able to post another copy of it on his channel. It features a sexy lady doctor talking in that husky, sultry voice of hers to an undeniably male-only audience about something that is implied to be masturbation.
"I know you've already done it today, and I bet you really enjoyed yourself," she says. "How many times did you do it yesterday? Are you afraid you're doing it too often? In the bedroom under your blankets? Or perhaps you prefer the kitchen or in the toilet?"
While some say there is no reason for the "moral outrage" exploding all over the pulled-out PS Vita ad because being sexual in nature doesn't necessarily make it sexist, others have slammed Sony for coming up with an innuendo-filled ad that espouses the same male exclusivity that women in the gaming industry are struggling against.
