Chilean PS3 Ad Shows Gamer Giving Blood to Nazi Officer

Sony's marketing department has once again come under fire for a Chilean print ad for the PS3 that depicts a modern-day gamer giving a blood transfusion to a Nazi officer.

Oh, Sony. You were doing so well, too!

A Chilean advertisement for the PS3 developed by major ad firm BBDO has generated quite a deal of controversy, since it depicts a (quite clearly modern-day) gamer donating blood to a *gasp* Nazi! If the uniform didn't tip you off, how about the faint swastikas at the head of the bed?

Now, apparently the Nazi in question is the original Magnificent Bastard Erwin Rommel, who was actually fairly respected by allies and foes alike for being a decent chap - as far as Nazis go, anyway. Rommel's supposed virtue aside, though, this just seems strange.

The other ad in the set is much less controversial, but no less perplexing: It shows a happy (again, modern-day) gamer donating his still-beating heart to Joan of Arc. I'm just... I'm honestly baffled. I cannot figure out for the life of me what the hell these ads are supposedly trying to communicate. "If you buy a PS3, you'd donate blood to a Nazi"? Has Sony intentionally and irrevocably invoked Godwin's law on itself?

If there's one group of people who gamers (or, indeed, anyone else) probably wouldn't want to be compared to, it's the Nazis. Even with Sony's other controversial ads, I was usually able to make some sense of it. But these? I got nothing.

I guess the chemicals are back in the water supply for Sony's ad people. We should have known that their momentary lucidity wouldn't last.

(Keep the comments clean, folks. We'll be watching.)

(Adme.ru, via Engadget)