The Impact of Nintendo's "For Men" Advertising Campaign on a Potential Female Market

Gareth Schott,Siobhan Thomas

doi:10.7557/23.5971

Abstract

In order to emphasize the maturation of their hand-held console and increase its appeal to an adult market, Nintendo's UK advertising campaign for the Game Boy Advance SP drew explicitly upon Œlad' culture and a tongue-in-cheek appropriation of cologne advertising. In this campaign, the lead and most prominent promotional advert for the device used an image of the Game Boy with the tagline "For Men". This paper outlines why Nintendo's decision to present the Game Boy as a male accessory prompted exploration into its potential impact on the female market. Much of the emerging research field examining female participation in game cultures had at that point tended to focus its attention on exploring the experiences of different female groups with a variety of software titles and its associated communities. In contrast, this paper addresses participants' perceptions of the gaming industry and its relevance to them as a (potential) consumer by taking a hardware device as its focus. This was achieved by conducting a series of focus groups, with a range of both experienced and inexperienced female game players, during which participants were asked to engage with the hand-held device and experience both its single and networked game-play capabilities with the game Legend of Zelda. The findings address participants' awareness and views on the extent to which gaming is coded male and its ramifications for their participation in game cultures.

Highlights

In 2000 the lead author of this current paper published a paper with Kirsty Horrell entitled ‘Girl Gamers and their Relationship with Gaming Culture’
Other long-term contributions have come from the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), Women in Game Development Committee (WiGDC) who have consistently sought to publicize female careers in the industry, by speaking at youth and industry organizations and coordinating mentor programs
This paper has outlined a select number of advancements in the understanding and recognition of female gamers since Schott and Horrell (2000) first reported on a group of females attracted to gaming but who were excluded from the interdependent relationship between solitary game-play activities and the wider sources of support and consultation integral to progression, development and advancement as a player

Summary

Introduction

In 2000 the lead author of this current paper published a paper with Kirsty Horrell entitled ‘Girl Gamers and their Relationship with Gaming Culture’. This research gained access to a range of children and adults that, in economic terms, were failing to register as gamers These ‘small’ groups of self-proclaimed gamers gained pleasure from playing the games purchased and owned by male friends, family and partners. Despite the barriers placed in front of this particular sample, they demonstrated an affinity for certain types of games (primarily console based) in which preference was given to third person platform and action adventure games that centred upon creature avatars (e.g. Sonic the Hedgehog, Spyro the Dragon, and Abe from Oddworld) Their game-play (highlighted by the game-play observations) confirmed a great deal more of satisfaction was gained from ‘play’ within interactive game spaces over mastery of game rules. Other long-term contributions have come from the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), Women in Game Development Committee (WiGDC) who have consistently sought to publicize female careers in the industry, by speaking at youth and industry organizations and coordinating mentor programs

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Results

Conclusion