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In a first, Obama places ads in video games
Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH) - Saturday, October 18, 2008
Author: Tom Feran, Plain Dealer Reporter
Sen. Barack Obama broke new ground in campaigning by announcing his vice presidential pick via e-mail, text message and Twitter. Now he has become the first presidential candidate to advertise in online video games.
His campaign spent an undisclosed amount for ads running in 18 games through Nov. 3 in 10 key states including Ohio - nine of which voted Republican in 2004.
The ads appear on billboards and other signs in the virtual worlds of the games, which are played in real time on the Internet.
Among them are the popular “Guitar Hero” and nine Xbox Live games from Electronic Arts Inc., including “Madden 09,” “Nascar 09,” “NBA Live 08” and “NHL 09” - reaching hockey moms,
NASCAR dads and other sports-game players right where they live.
Embedded ads in games are nothing new for such commercial producers as cars, electronic goods and athletic gear, and EA said the “highly targeted” Obama buy aims especially at a hard-to-reach audience of young males, roughly ages 18 to 34.
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