Call Of Duty: Black Ops Commercial

Now, you may have played the game but have you seen the commercial??? For someone like me (not so much of a gamer unless you're talking about Just Dance for the Wii ...), its hard to tell which one's cooler. Ok, not really because leading advertising agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day nailed yet another campaign. You may recall some of their work from the original brightly colored, industry changing series of iPod commercials, or their work for the Grammy's. 

This time, they've taken on the task of delivery a commercial worthy of the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops. They delivered with the tag line "There's a soldier in all of us," and by humorously depicting sensible looking women, doctors, a basketball player (Kobe Bryant), a late night talk show host (Jimmy Kimmel) and one bad @$$ line cook letting off rounds at each other. For 60 seconds, these people are descending from roof tops, pitching grenades and taking out helicopters. Even better, they walk away in slow motion while things blow up behind them ... without turning around. Again, I repeat, bad @$$. 

Now, some would say that with its cult-like following already buzzing, advertising was unnecessary. I'm glad no one listened to them because I would have missed out on a seriously good laugh. Although, not everyone is taking it as lightheartedly as I am. Some (including gamers) say that the spot glorifies war and further proves the point of video games being too violent. I personally found the commercial to be successful in winning over people outside the game's primary target audience.  It's use of humor, celebrity and cinematography all help make Call of Duty appear more relatable to someone like me. Now, it's not quite good enough to make me want to buy a copy for myself BUT it is good enough to make me snoop around to see if a certain someone might need a copy for Christmas. Can you start to see how Call of Duty's already incredible numbers with "sales over 9 million across all platforms" (vgchartz.com), will continue to surge through the holiday season? So, for that reason, I say job well done but, to each his own. What do you say?