Ads in games

More on this Mc Donald's Ad

More on this Intel Ad

I came across with an interesting article from Technology Review. It says that advertisements are more memorable when they are placed in a violent game, compared to the non-violent version of the same game.

It is rather possible that the ads are more memorable because the players are exposed to the content with evoked feelings, and more importantly, with high levels of adrenaline. The players are biologically more open to all senses at those times.

The article does not focus much on the reasons why those ads are memorable, though. Rather it points out a dilemma about whether the companies should make a decision to place their ads on violent or non-violent ads.

It is indeed a big and somewhat ethical dilemma. If the companies will prefer to place their ads in violent games, it means that that genre is the one that will get supported more so than the non-violent games. This, in return will surely have an impact on the supply-demand dynamics of the game genres.