Recently, Bandai Namco got caught up in some advertising controversy...of which, I somehow completely missed, but was able to get the general recap of after the fact. Basically, Namco was hyping up a secret Pac-Man announcement, with a three-day countdown leading up to it. Pac-Man and the Ghosts had unveiled the numbers, over a 72 hour span.
3...2...1...disappointment.
The announcement ended up being some livestream event for Pac-Man 99. Featuring four people I have literally never heard of, accompanied by embarrassing stock sound effects of children cheering. It's not an update for the game itself or anything; not even a cheap DLC pack. Just a lame livestream, where you can watch people eccentrically pretend to enjoy the game.
Naturally, the people following the countdown weren't the happiest. I mean, it's barely even connected to Pac-Man at all; it's people playing Pac-Man, but that's it. And it's FAR from the first time we've seen something like this. Let us not forget (*checks paper*) Red Bull, Million perfume, that whole "Join the Pac" music thing, half a dozen overpriced watches, Gorillaz, Pizza Hut, the entire NBA, and the true beauty of "LOL Pac-Man". What is with all these promotions of unrelated brands, suddenly becoming loosely tied to Pac-Man? As a Pac-Man fan, I find the appeal of it ranges from "that's sort of neat, I guess", down to "I am literally, utterly disgusted by this".
I just don't get it. It wasn't like this when I was a kid; Pac-Man stuff was just...Pac-Man stuff. No crossovers, no bullshit advertising, no promotions that were ever so slightly tied to Pac-Man being marketed like they're going to announce Pac-Man 3 or something. But then? I had a sudden realization. I put the 41-year-old, disgusting "pizza" pieces together in my head. I can't exactly prove this, but I think it might finally explain what's going on.
I...really can't think of a proper term for this, but I'll give an example. You've probably known a guy or two who had, say, a Pink Floyd shirt they would wear a lot. The "Dark Side of the Moon" album cover, most likely. At the same time, they...probably knew practically nothing about Pink Floyd. They just wore it to look cool - and that's perfectly fine. You don't have to be an expert on something to passively enjoy it; to whatever minuscule degree that might be.
...With Pac-Man, however. I think Namco is specifically trying to advertise to a market like that. They don't care what the hardcore Pac-Man fans think. I doubt many Pac-Man fans would inherently care about Gorillaz; but on the contrary, Gorillaz fans might care about Pac-Man. Everyone likes Pac-Man, to some extent. It's cool, it's eclectic, and most people have played Pac-Man at least once in their lives. If that's actually what they're going for from an advertising standpoint...it does make sense, and I can kind of understand it in a way.
...Except for the fact that it's obviously not working at all. Literally none of these promotions have caught on. Do you think your mother cared with more than a passing glance upon seeing Pac-Man on a Red Bull can at the supermarket? She didn't. And you, as the Pac-Man fan reading this, probably didn't care much either. This bizarre marketing strategy of "shoving Pac-Man into random things, for fans of said things to enjoy", is a complete flop; and yet, it just keeps happening, over and over again.
Now, this sort of stuff *does* happen with most other brands too; except generally, it's never really a big deal. It's always just inconsequential. With Pac-Man, however, Namco makes the BIGGEST deal out of it. Keep in mind that Pac-Man Red Bull got an iPhone game, with a FULL ARCADE MACHINE of it being manufactured too. And now, we have Namco hinting at some huge announcement, only for it to be some lame Twitch tournament. At this point, Namco has put more thought into shady cross-promotion than they have producing actual, full-fledged Pac-Man games - and it's gone on for FAR too long.
You should never, NEVER, specifically AVOID marketing to the die-hard fans. You can advertise to both of these "markets", if you want, but not exclude the fans from it all. It's backfired beyond belief; to the point where the hardcore Pac-Man fans are now either corporate shills, or have moved on to other interests and never looked back. And personally? I prefer when people choose the latter. If only I could choose the latter; but no matter what, my dedication for this yellow loser never truly fades...
Ireallydontcare123456789 (talk) 07:03, 23 July 2021 (UTC)Ireallydontcare123456789