Black Ops 2 Marketing Campaign Stars An Arms And Drugs Trafficker, And Attacks Anonymous

Activision loves its marketing, especially when it comes to their beloved Call of Duty franchise. Usually we’re bombarded with trailers explaining new (but not innovative) multiplayer tweaks and changes, tons of gameplay and displays of war technology. Blacks Ops was only revealed yesterday, and already we have a full on marketing campaign to dissect and pick apart. Sure, we all like to make comments about of Call of Duty being a copy/paste effort, but Activision may have really gone a bit far this time.

In the viral marketing series, named Synopsis, various U.S. Marines, unmanned Drone Pilots, and War Veterans talk about how technology on the battlefield is becoming more and more sophisticated every year, and how the biggest fear they have is having all of their technology turned against them. This is basically the premise of Black Ops 2, which deals with the terrifying realization of our own drones, missile launchers and tanks being aimed at us. It’s a grounded nightmare that is certainly a real threat to those involved in making these weapons, but that’s not the problem here. Despite the fact that the campaign once again glamourizes the gritty realization that is warfare, they also seem to be taking a massive shot at hacktivist groups, namely Anonymous.

For those of you who don’t know who Anonymous are, where have you been lately? Anonymous are one of the most famous hacktivist groups in the world, launching attacks on people, organisations and even governments. Their attacks always have purpose behind them, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Lately they been the instigators of some Denial of Service attacks, or DDoS attacks, targeted at SOPA and ACTA, and all of the other bills that aim to censor the internet. Oh, and they all wear Guy Fawkes masks, and post some ridiculously creepy videos announcing their attacks. Sure, their means of hacking aren’t always strictly legal, and the whole organisational structure of the group is a bit obscure, but they are some form of good, in an extremist hacking way. The problem is what the video above is suggesting, depicting members of hacktivist groups such as Anonymous as terrorists.

There’s even a hit at Anonymous in the video, with a quick flash of one of their members in the mask showing up when mentioning how hackers could potentially take control of an army’s weaponry. I’m sorry, but when did a hacktivist group suddenly do this type of thing for fun? Drone pilot Major Hercules Christopher explains his fears in the video.

“You know, if there are guys out there who are smart enough to hack into our banks and people’s personal information, then certainly, eventually, there’s gonna be someone who’s smart enough to hack into our aircraft.”

At this point, a shot from a video from Anonymous comes up, showing off the group’s face-wear.

“If you can hack a bank, you can hack a drone.”

One of the main stars of the campaign, Oliver North, also states his fear of having all of the U.S Army’s Technology being turned against them. In the first video of the campaign, which basically sums up what the rest are going to cover, North states the following:

“The enemy could be anywhere, and it could be anyone.”

The same Anonymous member splashes onto the screen again.

“I don’t worry about the guy who wants to hijack a plane. I worry about the guy who wants to hijack all the planes.”

So, Activision, or whoever directed this marketing campaign, seems to think that Anonymous is capable and planning to commit crimes such as these. Where they get this from, who the hell knows, but they’re entitled to their opinion about hacktivist groups and their reach. The same way that they are entitled to star Oliver North, a man suspected and even tied to an Arms and Drug Trafficking scandal during the 1980’s. He was convicted on three of his charges, but later vacated. The fact that Activision sees this as ethical is honestly beyond me, even if he is a decorated war Veteran. North also stars on a program called War Stories with Oliver North, a show broadcasted on the Fox News Channel. Coincidentally, Fox News is also the same network that reported on Anonymous members being a group of “hackers on steroids,” “domestic terrorists,” and collectively an “Internet hate machine.”

I’m not an outward supporter of Anonymous, but I do agree with some of their goals, mainly their opposition to acts such as ACTA and SOPA. There methods aren’t legal, and get some people in trouble, but I doubt they’re even thinking about hacking Army technology and slaughtering innocent infantry. The fact that this official marketing campaign of a series that glamourize war and war-like situation even suggests Anonymous could be thinking about this is quite appalling, and they fact that one of the stars promoting it was involved in arms and drug trafficking is a head scratcher.

Also, is Activision prepared for a possible retaliation to this video? Would you want to get on Anonymous’ bad side for no apparent reason, and label them as terrorists?

We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.

My god, it still gives me chills, in a really bad way.

Name: Alessandro Barbosa
Location: Johannesburg
Position: Ex-Editor, News

Alessandro has published 1939 posts. Read all of Alessandro's posts.

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