Friday May 25, 2012 2:11 AM AEST

Atomic MPC > News > Build > Peripherals > Coolermaster - our least favourite brand, since... Now!

Coolermaster - our least favourite brand, since... Now!

Has case and peripheral-maker Coolermaster just managed to make the most offensive ad campaign we've yet seen? With it's latest Spawn mouse, it just might have...

WARNING - ranty, pinko possibly feminist diatribe ahead.

Curious yet?

We've had a new mouse sitting on our review pile for a little while now. It's the latest gaming rodent to come to us by way of Coolermaster, and it's called the Spawn. It's your usual brightly coloured, asymetrical gaming-grade mouse with... well, that's not really important, nor what's really gotten us angry.

No, it's the marketing campaign that goes with the new mouse. It revolves around a video depicting the perils of the Spawn - namely, that gamers will be so into holding the thing that they'll ignore their girlfriends. In fact, there's an entire competition with the aim being to suggest the best way for Monica - the CM Storm Girl - to get her ignorant man's attention.

Bad enough that the vid uses all the usual cliches - women are whiney, women are clingy, and even that, basically, their only solution to any problem is to sex things up. But that's just the icing on the cake of douchebaggery - the real clincher is that the video campaign reduces breast cancer checks to merely a sexy gambit for attention.

You can watch the ad here, and doubtless many will thing we're over-reacting. But is this really the best that Coolermaster can do to reach the gaming audience? Not to mention at a time when the debate over the maturity of the medium is more important than ever... Thanks, Cooler Master.

Nice one.

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47 Comments

qwakqwak Feb 2, 2011 3:59 PM	I get where you're coming from Dave but you're sounding a bit PC. Maybe coolermaster just know how to rile you up...any publicity is good publicity.
orcone Feb 2, 2011 4:02 PM	I hate women interrupting my gaming with sex, I'm buying 10 of these mouses now to rectify that issue.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Feb 2, 2011 4:06 PM	I agree with David here. If it weren't for the last clip, I'd probably brush it off as a lame attention grab. But yeah, they really did step over the line. That, and they make gamers look like shallow twats.
tunksy Feb 2, 2011 4:22 PM	id never ditch my gf for my G9. sex is just better than gaming. seriously though. lame, stupid, unintelligent, taken too far.. better ways to promote gaming.
hectorbustnuts Feb 2, 2011 4:24 PM	I only got as far as the first page. When it listed the young lady's occupation as "Amateur Gamer" I wrote it off. "AMATEUR gamer". What's wrong with just "Gamer"? Is it amateur because it's not a male? Fuck 'em.
Mack Feb 2, 2011 4:30 PM	Was he playing star craft 2? It was so dull nothing happend to make me lough or be vaguely interested in the product and the "Amateur Gamer" part had me too.
codecreeper Feb 2, 2011 5:21 PM	Can i check for bumps? Well yes my first thought was a copy of Big Bang Theory. I think he was more interested in fondling his mouse than " censored ". You get the picture "censored". Now i need a cold shower. Well advertising has certainly become amusing and entertaining now.
jdog Feb 2, 2011 5:43 PM	some ads are just weird... i prefer logitech mouse anyway... and i'd take sex over gaming any day! its not like that ECS one...
philo-sofa Feb 2, 2011 5:49 PM	CM could always make a 'rabbit edition' to take her attention away (900mA USB 3.0 FTW), which would also be less sexist. You heard it here first.
GhostFaceKilla Feb 2, 2011 6:28 PM	Yuck. Terrible ad.
LordBug Feb 2, 2011 7:13 PM	I can't watch the ads, so I won't comment on those. But the countless tales I've read of highly "mature" people on online gaming, the things that they do and what amuses them, well, sounds like the ads know who the target audience are. I know a guy who one time was making sexy play with his girlfriend, they brought out the handcuffs, he handcuffed her to the bed, and no shit, left her to go play games. Can't remember how long for, but there definitely wasn't sexy time after that. And my eye keeps on getting caught by "Sandy bridge", and bridge keeps on replacing itself with something else...
Harpy Queen Feb 2, 2011 8:13 PM	That's terrible. As a woman I am really pissed off and significantly less likely to get their stuff now. LordBug: It's rather sad that I can believe someone would do that.
fredzfrog Feb 2, 2011 8:26 PM	pfft.. why doesnt she just join in? :P
deonast Feb 2, 2011 8:43 PM	Ah that cliché has been done to death. Too busy or addicted to gaming (mouse holding) to have sex with attractive young woman. I'm pretty sure I've seen this idea used many times before. It is supposed to be ironic because we all know we'd drop the mouse in a second, but the idea is just tired.
Glitch_Neutrino Feb 2, 2011 8:56 PM	yep..that was bad..
danin316 Feb 2, 2011 10:35 PM	its a pretty bad ad but for the love of Geebus that article sounded like a pastor at a local church wrote it... douchebaggery ? really, i mean really?! it sounds like a women's lib group stormed atomic head quarters and if anything this reminded me to check my missus for lumps of which she has many lol
alex8337 Feb 3, 2011 12:10 AM	Coolermasters brand name has been tarnished by some wanker of an advertising team they've hired. Look at the mouse... It's called SPAWN and its Red. Whats that got to do with women or sex, nothing. Blame the doushbags making the add's not the company. I'll only persecute a company for 2 things... Price and the quality of the goods.
ShiroKage Feb 3, 2011 12:13 AM	I'll take her, how much?
alex8337 Feb 3, 2011 12:17 AM	to add: I also dont give a shit about packaging either, I do not care if the box says its AMAZING or if the hot chick in the video says its AMAZING too, I'll make that opinion in a year when its still working and in good condition.
Avliden Feb 3, 2011 7:29 AM	That was some seriously dumb shit. But, If I had to choose between sex and gaming and nobody would be hurt as a result of my choice... It depends on the game, lol. I can't ever see myself completely ignoring my significant other however. It does strike me as offensive, I do see daves point.
Hawkeye Feb 3, 2011 8:18 AM	danin316, if the pastor at your local uses the word douchebaggery in their sermons, I might just consider investigating christianity.
Meowkitty Feb 3, 2011 8:19 AM	not the Add company Alex8337, the executive at Cm that signed off on it. and it would not have been the only idea put forward.
Meowkitty Feb 3, 2011 8:40 AM	looking at the page, it loks to be a cheep way to get people to interact with the promo page and to suck people into distribution of the marketing. it looks cheep and smacks of giggling behind hands at the "geeks will lap this shit up" approach to tech advertising. I do like the camo bra with little webbign adn CM logo. I also liked the Geek fantasies vid's from a few years ago. "your magic missile has been resisted".
dsagill Feb 3, 2011 9:29 AM	Well I don't know about the sexist rant but I will give it the following: Poorly written, appaulingly acted, superficial, completely lacking any imagination, unfunny, pathetic, uninspiring and completely torn from reality as its obvious a dweeb like that would have a less than zero chance of attracting a hot chick. It would be a more believable campaign if the dweeb was alone and begging the audience to find ways he could let go of the mouse so he would be able to jack himself off. Sexism would be the least of its problems.
bowiee Feb 3, 2011 10:10 AM	Bugger dsagill that's what I was going to say ;) I will also add to that, the add to me was so infantile that it just turned me off immediately, I don't even think a 10 year old school boy would giggle. :(
nesquick Feb 3, 2011 1:31 PM	come on guys its only a low budget video... no need to be all up in arms about it.
Hawkeye Feb 3, 2011 2:29 PM	No, it's a paid-for marketing campaign that a significant player in the enthusiast computing space believes is the best way to ingratiate its customer-base. As such, it's inappropriate, poorly targeted and offensive to just about everyone I've shown it to. Arms very much up in... something.
Mr_farkus Feb 3, 2011 3:40 PM	Wicked, wicked add. If the rolls were reversed and it was a buff guy in speedos, asking his girlfriend to check him for testicular cancer, my misses would be smiling.
Fidel Gastro Feb 3, 2011 3:50 PM	Shocking ad, they could at least have used a girl with better accoutrements!
danin316 Feb 3, 2011 4:59 PM	@ hawkeye Really using that word is all it takes, ill notify pastor's every where lol if that girl in the ad was the pastor id be one devout follower lol but seriously bad ad not offensive just really poorly made
panto Feb 3, 2011 5:33 PM	I don't think the target market for gaming mice will find it offensive. It was all done in humor, aren't we just a tad sensitive today?
somemadcaaant Feb 3, 2011 7:28 PM	wtf nfi Mouse looks crap so does female, she obviously doesn't get enough meat, har har har. Stop crying.
somemadcaaant Feb 3, 2011 7:29 PM	I'm joking. Thanx for the vid. Blah.
somemadcaaant Feb 3, 2011 7:36 PM	Pls don't ban me from this server again...
Hawkeye Feb 3, 2011 8:08 PM	You were banned once?
oscarcharliezulu Feb 3, 2011 9:08 PM	... That's what she said...
rebelvideo Feb 3, 2011 10:24 PM	So atomic is trying to ride political correctness now is it? So sad from a magazine that featured "Captain Atomic" Yeah thats right you thought we'd forgotten. well I haven't I am still scarred from actually trying to follow that cr@p. Whats that word that means someone who says one thing and does another, Oh yeah thats right, hypocrites! DC
Hawkeye Feb 4, 2011 8:07 AM	Odd, that only jerky blokes (and I may be wrong here), seem to think this is 'riding political correctness'. I'm also bemused that political correctness is apparently some kind of bad thing. I think it's essential - and, guess what: I used to fucking write Captain Atomic. I don't recall ever trying to sexualise cancer before, frankly. So you continue to be sad, DC. You just carry on, be sad and fuck off.
osama_bin_athlon Feb 4, 2011 9:01 AM	PC is only a new invention (the mice of which you speak were invented long before 'everyone' became PC) we have gone crazy with the crap, I'm afraid that I'm too old, and too set in my beliefs to take that stuff at all seriously. if something's funny, it's funny - I'm Irish, and just love hearing Irish jokes.... anyway, back to the mouse, is it any good?
Hawkeye Feb 4, 2011 10:55 AM	I'll tell you when I review it. And remember, the mouse was a new invention once, too - does that invalidate it any way?
LordBug Feb 4, 2011 4:48 PM	If the mouse is average, then it's extremely clear who the target audience will have been. The cashed up arrogant muppets who don't care to research a product or find the one that's best suited to them, instead they buy based on what adverts buy them. That's the world of marketing.
deonast Feb 4, 2011 9:35 PM	@Hawkeye I'm generally against political correctness (PC). I do believe in tact, good taste and using ones brain. PC has become a catch all phrase often used as an excuse to inhibit free speech. Again with tact and good taste you don't need PC. I'll give you an example. I believe in the best person for the job. The PC thing now it to have quotas for certain number of women or ethnic groups in jobs (you see this in some government jobs). Being a women or a man or an ethnic group doesn't necessarily make you better at a job. I'd prefer the best person for the job rather than taking the chance that you might get someone worse in order to fill a quota. So while I don't necessarily think what was written about the ad was PC (the ad was in bad taste really, well crummy anyway) I do have to disagree on the PC argument. Hell this is what forums are for. Different opinions but hopefully without the abuse or bad manners.
LordBug Feb 5, 2011 12:27 AM	Alright, I've _finally_ watched the series of ads, and now to throw up my opinion of it. Or moreso, my opinion of this opinion piece. Before I start, this is aimed only at feelings expressed in the rant, and does not express an intent to view David in a negative light from this point forth. Prior to watching the ads, I was expecting something grossly overboard in sexism and belittlement. Instead, it's a somewhat average ad. I've seen somewhat more sexist ads for more regular products, alcohol being a prime example. It's kinda amusing, kinda bland. Could've been done better (Doesn't really give a good sense of what the guy is holding onto so much), but there are much more poorly done (In the sense of the subtle aim at the product). So going on from that, the opinion piece... My god, someone honestly must've had their testicles fall off in their sleep, a stick the size of a power pole jammed up their arse, and their dick turn inside out to a colossal bleeding vagina with enough sand to make a reasonably sized beach. You would have to be so incredibly uptight to be offended by that series of adverts. Reduces cancer checks to a gambit for attention? That's one humongous reach for a whinge, the sort exhibited by someone who's taken their dislike for something to incredible extremes and wants to try to force their opinion onto others. I've clutched at such straws in the past and subsequently realised how petty my views are, thankfully before I've dribbled like a blinkered zealot into other's ears. I'm sorry, but you've vomited your opinion into the open before calming your fury and thinking it over more. Yes, it's poor timing regarding the maturity debate. Only because there are such people out there who'd jump to the absolute extremes and read way way more in that ad than there really is, and that those sort of thick-as-mud people are the ones with the really loud voices. And the louder the voice, the less the thought. Reading into the ad as gamers being the sort to ignore their girlfriends is another grab at thin air. To me, it suggests that either someone is a devout feminist, someone lives with a devout feminist and has had coloured glasses subtly put over their eyes, or someone just hasn't had that much experience with people, relationships, and the world. Carrying ones emotions on ones sleeve about such a topic doesn't help anyone. If the tables were turned, and it was a guy trying to get the attention of the female, would that be considered sexist? Sadly we haven't reached that level of equality in society yet, instead we've got lots of loud voices advocating a complete reversal of sexism (Law of physics I suppose, every reaction equal reaction, add friction to get a progress towards the neutrality of a standstill). The sum of my feelings is yes, this article is an overreaction. In fact, I'd claim it's a fact that it's an absurd overreaction. I have to ask - When showing it to the others who felt insulted and disgusted, how was the video originally put forwards? "Hey, what's your opinion on this set of adverts?" or was it "I'm really pissed off/disgusted at these set of sexist ads, have a look and tell me what you think". Depending on how it was put forwards to others, their own opinions may not be untainted by bias. All in all, this comes across as a very poorly thought and spur of the moment piece. Take a deep breath. Give it a couple of days to mull over it. Is this your real feeling on the ad? Or is it influenced by current events, or someone you know? The emotional response is just too much for what the video is.
jdog Feb 5, 2011 11:59 AM	the mouse looks ugly and the video is weird....
dsagill Feb 8, 2011 2:29 PM	Wow LB - if the opinion piece is over the top then perhaps your response is over the top'er!? What I got from the opinion piece is that the writer is let down and disappointed by a normally clever and well promoted company choosing such a steaming load of poop as a marketing vehicle and that they didn't appreciate the sexist crap (like the chick having to be an average gamer and then being so desperate for attention she went down the boobage path). I don't think the sexist stuff is worth raging over alone but the campaign is horrible and not what I expect from Coolermaster either. I might cut it some slack if it were funny or clever but it fails on all counts.
Hawkeye Feb 8, 2011 4:11 PM	Well, LB, I still feel pretty much the same about this ad as I did when I saw it. Now, let me tell you how that happened. It was emailed to a mess of journos here in the office, and I chose not to watch it - I kinda figured it wasn't getting anywhere. However, the reaction of my workmates made me watch through to the end. I even then discussed my response with workmates (one of whom actually contacted the PR who sent the video to register his disapproval), and the ad rep in Haymarket who deals with CM as a client. So this was not the spur of the moment thing you think it is. And if you want to know, yes, I am a devout feminist. Most of my friends are too. I have merely described the add to people and gotten flinches of disgust, and to be honest, I'd be embarrassed to showing it to anyone. I think it shows off the very worst of our gaming. I also absolutely knew it was an opinion that would likely not fly with a lot of my readers - but you know what, some times that's the least of my worries. This is not a popularity contest, after all. Curiously, do you also think that those who agree with my opinion are similarly biased and/or inexperienced with life?
Hawkeye Feb 8, 2011 4:45 PM	I'd also like to point out, LB, that your response is about twice the size of my article :)

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Atomic Magazine

Issue: 137 | June, 2012

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