CHRONIC GOES CORPORATE

Hamlet and Tateru fire up fatties from your good friends at Vivendi/Universal

When Tateru noted that Vivendi/Universal/Motown's Second Life site promoting the band Hinder and Chamillionaire included a free marijuana joint dispenser, I was so surprised, I flew in to check for myself. And there they were, thoughtfully laid out on a tray; once attached, they feature puffing special effects and "take a hit, flick ashes" animation set. (There's also a vendor of magic mushrooms which, once ingested, make you hallucinate flying pot leaves emblazoned with American flags-- but it's broken at the moment.)  The site [direct teleport at this link] was launched last year, and enjoyed a brief flurry of publicity, though I don't recall anyone noting this marvelous development: one of the world's major media corporations is now sponsoring a virtual simulation of illegal drug use.

Speaking off the record, an insider tells me Motown is aware of the joints-- but they're meant to be associated with Hinder (who are often featured with fatties in their videos), and decidedly not meant to be affiliated in any way with Chamillionaire, who's a teetotaler.  (In fact, the label explicitly forbade the hip hop star's avatar from ever being depicted with a virtual blunt in his mouth.) 

"The site attempts to create an environment that Hinder fans will relate to," the insider tells me. "The content merely reflects the band's style and attitude. The label is aware that the site is meant for adults and that virtual jays are not real."

This isn't even the first example of drug use at the site of a major corporation, by the way: to promote Time-Warner's Scanner Darkly last year, Second Life's promoters (who also advertised on NWN) included consciousness-altering hallucinogenics depicted in the book/film.

This is interesting to me for several reasons: anyone who follows the game industry knows that publishers are hyper-sensitive about not appearing to advocate drug use, even in games intended for adults, even at the expense of logic.  (In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, for example, the larcenous protagonist wantonly murders National Guardsmen, Federal agents, hapless valet drivers, and so on-- but makes it clear he doesn't do drugs.)  At the same time, major media corporations have long waltzed with this subject, in their films and music; as with Hinder, illegal drug use is integral to many bands' branding, but their record label is usually careful to disassociate themselves from that behavior, knowing that a public backlash (or just as likely, politicians' exploitation of the issue) could hurt their corporate parent.  Second Life might become an alternative middle space apart from all that-- explicitly restricted only to adults (at least in principle), specifically designated as a fantastic, unreal world, it could be the place where corporations finally get to let their hair down.

Comments

[Laetizia Coronet]

Time for the BOB to move in - the Broadly Offensive Brigade. What will the lawyers say about this...

holy crap!

[Torley]

Okay, hold it — caption of the year for NWN: "Hamlet and Tateru fire up fatties from your good friends at Vivendi/Universal"

[Robbie D]

Or Torley, the caption on the photo could perhaps be replaced with "Hey Tateru, you think one of these white ties would go better with this suit ?"

[Chronic Skronski]

Well damn, I thought this was gonna be about me.