I was watching ESPN First Take the other day as they talked about the new Call of Duty: Black Ops commercial featuring NBA superstar Kobe Bryant (as well as other celebs). In the commercial Bryant can be seen wielding an assault rifle as he participates in game play. The media has taken his appearance in the commercial and ran... wait, sprinted with it.
Reading one of the many articles bashing the ad, it became clearly evident that this was a personal attack on him. People it's just a video game! By no means is Bryant "endorsing violence on the streets" by participating in an ad for a video game that he probably plays, along with millions of others around the world. Blaming him for the violence that occurs everyday in America is outlandish and irresponsible. Folks have been killing one another long before video games ever came out.
Being someone who's actually served in Afghanistan and put their life on the line, I wasn't offended by the ad at all. I actually thought it was marketing genius. There's a "soldier in all of us" is a great line for a video game about war. Depicting regular people coming together to play a game hits the point and if the only thing you got out of it was "Kobe Bryant has a gun" my God... you've completely missed the point.
People are so sensitive these days and it seems as if we live in a society where you constantly have to be aware of the things you say because someone might be offended. My thoughts? Lighten up and pay attention to more important matters. We have more important things going on in the world than an NBA player in a commercial.
- Julian Arnold, Sport's Contributor for Six Twenty Seven