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You know, I happen to live in Cincinnati. It’s sort of an advertising / marketing Mecca. That’s bound to happen when Procter and Gamble happens to be based in your city. You know, Ivory Soap, Tide, Pringles, Gillette, Old Spice, Febreeze, etc… that company. Not to mention all of their recent divestures, we are home to the company who spends lots of money on their brands. In fact, they spend the most money of any company. So, certainly, we in Cincinnati have a company who knows how to do things right. God bless P&G. They make Cincinnati proud.
Some companies try very hard to be good at advertising. They try very hard to project an image. They’re so good that they do so at the expense of royally ticking off their old fan base. Nintendo seems to be that brand. It’s sad though, as they try to be just like Apple, but that’s hard when you have people like Laurent Fischer.
Now, you might be wondering who Laurent Fischer is. Other people might find reading her name to cause an uncontrollable rage, while still others just find him to be a very stupid man. See, Laurent is Nintendo of Europe’s Senior Marketing Director. When you get to be that man, you probably have a great skill to answer certain questions tactfully and skillfully. So, when someone asked him a question about the need for a Wii Hard Drive, Laurent could have just done what any other prominent marketing executive would have done and just dodged the question. But no, he didn’t. Instead, those who desire a Wii Hard Drive are “geeks and otaku.”
Now, some people would enjoy being characterized as a geek or otaku. Certainly, I am a geek. I shop at
ThinkGeek. Geeks are trendy in the US. Being called a Nerd is derogatory. But, we’re talking about this man from Europe, and well, I don’t think he knows geek is cool. I think, dare I say, that he was degrading the Nintendo Fans of old, and that really pains us. We supported Nintendo through the good times and bad, and this is how you treat us? Not cool at all.
Of course, Laurent has since apologized for his statement. But here’s the thing. Screw you is still screw you after an apology, and
that hurts. We see how much you care about your old fans Nintendo. It’s not much. We see how it is. You have a new market, so let’s get rid of the old guard. Why not burn some bridges on the way. Well, for the person who started the burning of bridges, I have something to say, and I am going to say it in French:
Je sais ce que nous savons tous - Vous êtes un grand âne.Thanks Laurent. You’ve been wonderful in telling us what Nintendo really thinks about us. As
David Jaffe would say - you really shat on our house.
