Ready to 
When gamer marketing goes too far
Brian Ambrozy
March 2, 2009 7:07 PM ET in Gaming
Every day I make sure to get my Penny Arcade fix in, and today’s comic nearly boggled my mind. Bluntly and aptly titled, “This Is Actually A Real Thing“, I knew the comic would be astounding.
I was right. Gilette has made a razor marketed to gamers.
There is a sort of uncanny valley for marketing; when marketing products to a specific demographic (in this case, men), marketing can be done well—the product becomes intriguing enough to try. I’ll use my own experience as an example.
As a young man, when I started buying my own shaving equipment, I was caught up in the marketing hype of the new Mach-style razors. They appealed to me with science. It seemed logical that a finely machined, highly crafted, highly engineered device with three ultra-hi-tech blades could actually improve shaving. It seemed cool. It seemed sci-fi enough that I ended up drinking the Kool-Aid and spending 10 years of my shaving life paying the “refill blade tax”.
Luckily, thanks to Icrontic, I discovered the Art of Manliness, and began shaving the right way. Looking back, I realize I swallowed the marketing pitch; but then, that’s the point of marketing. Fine, it worked, I bought it. They done good.
But the valley has been breached. Marketing a razor to gamers goes so far over the valley that it seems hokey and ridiculous. I almost asked myself, “is this some kind of joke?” WHO could take this seriously? How on Earth does a gamer’s beard differ from any other man’s?
I hope this campaign fails. I truly do. It’s so condescending that it doesn’t deserve to succeed.
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