Obama targets gamers

Posted on 16 Oct 2008 at 12:14

Barack Obama has become the first US presidential nominee to place campaign advertisements in online video games.

The Democratic Illinois senator is using the internet ads to target young adult males, who analysts say are typically difficult to get through using traditional campaigning media.

Obama's adverts feature in 18 games through Microsoft's Xbox Live service, including Guitar Hero 3, The Incredible Hulk, NASCAR 09, NBA Live 08 and NFL Tour. The candidate is making a final campaigning drive in the final few weeks of the US presidential race to encourage early voting in certain US states.

"The 18-to-34-year-old male is the mainstream demographic for the hard-core video gamer," said Van Baker, an analyst for IT research firm Gartner. "They're hard to get to because they don't watch much TV and they don't read a lot, so it's a good venue to get that segment."

The advertisements appear in games as banners or billboards, with an image of Obama, the slogan "Early voting has begun", and a reference to his website.

Earlier this month, Obama's campaign team placed VoteForChange ads on US Facebook users' home page.

Author: Dawinderpal Sahota

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