Oct 31, 2023 13:00:00

A highly stimulating advertisement complaining that children were massacred in Israel is displayed on a children's game app

Israel

is running an online advertising campaign to gather support for Israel in connection with the armed conflict with Hamas, the extremist organization that effectively controls Palestine. Reuters reported that there have been many cases where such pro-Israel provocative advertisements are displayed on game apps aimed at small children.

Graphic pro-Israel ads make their way into children's video games | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/graphic-pro-israel-ads-make-their-way-into-childrens-video-games-2023-10-30/

How graphic pro-Israel ads appeared in kids' video games - YouTube


One day, Maria Julia Assis's 6-year-old son, who lives in north London, England, was playing a puzzle game on his Android smartphone. Then, an in-game advertisement was displayed that included images of Hamas extremists, Israeli people frightened by attacks, and blurred but highly stimulating images.

The ad shows a child's backpack with a lot of blood on it, and the son looks distraught and says, ``Mommy, what is this?'' Even though he hasn't tapped anything, a bloody ad appears. He seemed shocked by what had happened. Assis said that the ad claimed that ``Hamas is

ISIS (Islamic State), '' and that children in Israel are being kidnapped by Hamas, and that your child could be the next victim. He said it was very disturbing.

His son was shocked by the irritating ads, and Assis immediately deleted the game app.

According to a Reuters investigation, there have been at least six reports of similar highly stimulating advertisements being displayed within game apps for children in the UK, France, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. These ads include provocative images of Hamas rocket attacks, explosions, and masked gunmen, and one of the game apps features the popular

Angry Birds game developed by Sega's Rovio Entertainment. It is reported that.

Rovio Entertainment confirmed to Reuters that these pro-Israel ads were displayed in error and that it had already manually blocked the ads.

David Saranga , director of digital diplomacy at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed that the video in question was an advertisement created for government propaganda, but did not explain why it was displayed within various gaming apps. I said I don't know.

Since the outbreak of armed conflict with Hamas, Israel has spent more than $1.5 million (approximately 224 million yen) on an Internet advertising campaign to increase support for Israel. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has instructed advertisers to block ads for users under the age of 18. Saranga, however, defended the campaign, saying, 'We want the world to understand what happened here in Israel. This is genocide.'

'It's no surprise that these ads are coming from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs,' said

Nancy Snow , a professor of communications at California State University. Israel has long been active in the digital space in its diplomacy. He points out that he has been using it.

Reuters contacted 43 advertising companies listed by Rovio Entertainment as third-party data partners to find out which advertising companies are showing provocative ads on children's gaming apps. Of these, 12 companies, including Amazon, responded, but all claimed that they were not responsible for the advertisements published in Angry Birds.

The Advertising Standards Authority, which monitors advertising campaigns in the United Kingdom, where Assis lives, has not investigated highly stimulating advertisements by the Israeli government at the time of writing. He also stated that, in general, any advertising should avoid 'graphic images' and that people should be cautious when targeting people under the age of 18.

Assis said he did not want to show his son, who is only 6 years old, horrific content such as the massacre of children, and that he was not ready to talk to a young child about the highly complex subject of the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. . He said that it may not be appropriate to display propaganda in in-game advertisements, even if the game is aimed at adults.