Digital Trends points out a recent column in The Atlantic by U.S. Army Special Operations paratrooper and Afghanistan veteran D.B. Grady that calls out Modern Warfare 3's advertising campaign—specifically, "The Vet and the Noob" trailer starring Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill. Check it out above.
"It's hard to believe that it's not deliberately offensive," he writes. "The advertisement trivializes combat and sanitizes war. If this were September 10, 2001, maybe it wouldn't be quite so bad. Those who are too young to remember Vietnam might indulge in combat fantasies of resting heart rates while rocket-propelled grenades whiz by, and of flinty glares while emptying a magazine into the enemy. But after ten years of constant war, of thousands of amputees and flag-draped coffins, of hundreds of grief-stricken communities, did nobody involved in this commercial raise a hand and say, "You know, this is probably a little crass. Maybe we could just show footage from the game.
"This is not an argument against so-called shooter video games or depictions of war in popular culture. However, as Afghanistan intensifies and we assess the mental and physical damage to veterans of Iraq, is now really the time to sell the country on how much fun the whole enterprise is?"
We can't help but see his point. Do you find the ad even a teensy bit offensive, or do people—even Vets—need to be less sensitive? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.
