FAUXMERCIAL #6
DATE: March 28, 2005
TO: Ubisoft Corporation
ADDRESS: laurent.detoc@ubisoft.comMr. Laurent Detoc
Executive Director for North America
Ubisoft Corporation
625 Third Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94107
It has been brought to our attention that promos for your new videogame product Splinter Cell have been aired with background music taken from Verdi's Requiem. While we take this to be a recognition of the composer's ability to write 'ominous music' and set an atmosphere for the marketing of your product, nevertheless we would like to point out that for many people, expecially musicians and those for whom the Requiem Mass is a personal experience often tied to bereavement memories, such commercial usage is not only tasteless but offensive and hurtful. Surely you can find or create other background music that does not carry this emotional and religious freight. We respectfully ask you to withdraw these commercials and change the music.
Please note that your company, and this letter, now appears on an internet page dedicated to the inappropriate use of music in advertising, a site which generates thousands of hits. You may wish to view it at http://www.cantusquercus.com/fauxmercial.htm. We will be pleased to post your reply there when we receive it.
Back to Fauxmercials