EA Creates Madden Giferator, Becomes Internet Punchline
Greg Johnson / Sep 15th, 2014 No Comments
In an attempt to build hype around Madden NFL 15, EA Sports created the Madden Giferator, a website where users can easily create Madden-based gifs. The website allows users to customize short clips with different players representing all NFL teams within and add their own captions.
Monopoly: Madden Edition
While the site was intended to be a way for gamers to light-heartedly trash-talk one another via gifs of their favorite players, it quickly devolved into a mockery of sports culture (amongst other things) as well as the creation of a new meme for the Internet to split their sides over.
First Down at the 20-Yard Punchline
The various incarnations of Madden gifs are slowly making their rounds through multiple sites such as Tumblr and Reddit, all the while growing more and more absurd as site users trickle away from its original intent. The variety of memes spreads through a broad spectrum, from the inane, inevitable boner jokes to the topical commentary on rape culture in sports.
Let’s do the Time Warp again!
EA has not made any sort of official response to the corruption of the Giferatior, but odds are the company won’t as none of the blame or praise can really be thrown in its direction. This bastardization is something that everyone should have expected when looking at past contests and interactive marketing campaigns.
The Internet Hate Machine
Mountain Dew’s “Dub The Dew” contest (in which people could name a new Mountain Dew flavor) took a horrible turn with such colorful titles as “Hitler Did Nothing Wrong.” Less publicized marketing twists such as “Cheester Talk,” an online program allowing visitors to make Chester Cheeto read a message and then send it to a friend, resulted in the most hilarious, inappropriate soundbytes ever uttered by a anthropomorphic Cheetah.
Oh trust me, the saying extends FAR beyond Africa.
The marketing strategy generated a lot of buzz for Madden 15, so the campaign can be deemed a success in that sense. On the other hand, good luck taking Madden seriously after seeing the gifs.
Greg Johnson
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tags: ea , Giferator , madden , Madden Giferator , madden nfl 15 , opinion , sports
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