EA Asked To Yank 'Misleading' Tiger Woods Ads In UK

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) in the UK has forced EA to withdraw its television advertising campaign for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, alleging the ads suggest that the Wii version of the game features Xbox 360 graphics. The ad in question showed Tiger Woods using a Wii remote to play the game, with the Wii logo alone being prominently displayed at the end of the commercial. However, the gameplay footage shown in the ad was for the Xbox 360 version of the game. The only indication of other format versions of the game came with a small disclaimer at the end of the advert indicating that it is "available on all formats". The ASA received a complaint that the ad gave a misleading impression of the quality of graphics in the Wii version. Although there was only one recorded complaint, the ASA agreed, pointing out that Tiger Woods' actions with the remote always mirrored the actions in the Xbox 360 gameplay footage. "We considered that viewers would infer from the ad that Tiger Woods was playing the game on a Wii console and the graphics shown behind him were representative of the actual game he was playing," said the ASA. "Because viewers would not be able to achieve the graphical quality shown in the ad on a Wii console, we concluded that the ad was misleading." EA’s response to the complaint centered on the fact that the ad did not show any gameplay that was not possible in the Wii version. It also claimed that it had not intended to imply that the footage was from the Wii version. However, advertising clearance and certification company Clearcast insisted that it had believed that the footage was from the Wii version. In an unfortunate turn of phrase, EA claimed that Wii footage "would not be of broadcast quality," apparently referring to the maximum resolution of Wii titles compared to the Xbox 360. The ASA found that EA breached advertising standards and ruled that the ad could not be shown again in its current form.