In a stunning display of corporate brilliance, Shell has announced a groundbreaking partnership with Fortnite to sell, you guessed it, gas! Because nothing says “childhood fun” like the sweet aroma of gasoline fumes and the thrill of filling up your virtual car with real-world fossil fuels. It’s a match made in environmental irony heaven, where children can now learn that the key to a successful gaming experience is not skill or strategy but the ability to calculate gas mileage.
Regardless of your view on climate change and the Green Movement, I think both sides can agree this partnership feels a little reminiscent of tobacco ads of old, like Don Draper of Madmen is sitting is some high-rise somewhere wringing his hands saying “Gotta get ‘em young”
The oil giant, who reported in July their quarterly profits of more than $5 billion, is focusing their advertising efforts on the youth by encouraging Twitch streamers, TikTokers, Instagram influencers and Youtubers to fill of their virtual vehicles at interactive Shell gas stations and post screenshots in game with a #Shellroadtrips hashtag to showcase its ‘ultimate road trips’ promotion, just one branch of Shell’s marketing campaign for a new gasoline it calls V-power Nitro+.
As you can imagine, climate change activists are in an uproar about the partnership. Media Matters for America, a left wing watchdog group, did some research on the matter.
The research revealed Shell sponsored live streams of gameplay on Twitch of at least 6 streamers with a combined viewership of 5.5 million followers. The research also revealed that at least 3 more content creators on other platforms are being paid to promote the campaign in their videos, with viewers totaling 1.5 million on Instagram, 8.5 million on Tiktok and 11.6 million on Youtube.
I would say that’s a pretty productive marketing tactic if you’re trying to sell gasoline to minors. An October 2018 survey showed that 45% of parents in the US stated that their children had played the game, regardless of its ‘T’ for teen rating. It seems that an overwhelming number of players aren’t even old enough to play the game, let alone drive. I doubt many players are even tall enough to pump gas.
But its not like Epic games and Fortnite are above manipulating children, and it’s not the first time they are in the news for their advertising practices. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission settled claims with the Fortnite maker Epic Games over children’s privacy and payment systems tricking players into making unintended purchases.
“Epic used privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement.
The FTC recently announced how to process claims for Fortnite players wishing to be refunded after being charged for unwanted items following the settlement which finalized in March of 2023.
I think this whole thing is just another reminder that it’s up to the parents to supervise the content their children are consuming, because these money hungry mega corps will lie, cheat and corrupt young minds all for one more dollar. No matter the expense.
Kudos, Shell, Fortnite and Epic Games, for showing us that corporate shortsightedness knows no bounds.
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