EA Sports Apologizes to Texans Fans for Madden Ads

[Texans_Chick]

If you were watching the draft, you were likely familiar with the Reggie Bush "Thanks" commercial:

Video

After I wrote a story about it, I ended up talking to the folks from EA Sports and they apologized saying that they weren't meaning to pour salt in Texan fans' wounds:

FanHouse: "EA Sports Apologizes to Texans Fans About Madden Ads"



If you have anything you would want to add to this story, please leave a comment at the second blog post. I just had one of the reps from EA Sports email me for the link, so the peeps from the company will read what you have to say if you leave a comment.

Personally, I could go the whole rest of my life without seeing that Reggie ad yet another time.

[Yankee_In_TX]

This post is misleading. They didn't apologize. They just put some spin on it: We had Mario on TV = we love Mario = we love the Texans.

*shrugs* Let's just face it, the media will never let us forget the 2006 draft (whether there's anything to forget or not).

[Specnatz]

I do not need them to apologize for the draft last year, I liked it
and they can kiss my butt in front of Macey's window and I will even
give them three days to draw a crowd.

They diliberately tried to bash the Texans organization, great marketing plan. Lets tic off the 6million buyers in the Houston Market. They said it was to provide advice, and exactly what advice would that be? If you are not the goldenboy eSpin anoints then you will be made fun of and then like mindless sheep others will do it without thinking? This email and or letter they sent you is just more like opps did we just tick off some would be buyers lets back peddle as fast as we can and give a lame excuse and hope the Texans fan base buys into it. Rosie has done a better job of back peddling.

[Noblesse Oblige]

You gotta hand it to PR people. They are good at de-emphesizing the obvious. Yeah, they made fun of the Texans, thus joining almost everyone else and many Texans fans. But in a way it's almost good--if Madden derides you, does it provide you with an anti-Curse?

Maybe this is what the team really needed to turn the corner, and EA knew that--so they really do love the Texans, and this is just part of a Rube Goldberg-esque plan to save the franchise.

[Texan_Bill]

Has everyone (or anyone) forgiven SI for the crap they pulled after the Rockets Championships???

I HAVEN'T. They can kiss my butt in front of Macey's window (thanks Specnatz).

[the wonger need food]

Personally, I like the commercials and hope they serve as motivation for Mario and the entire organization. I have a sneaky feeling that Mario is going to outplay Crazy Legs and Scatback this season.

[Specnatz]

Originally Posted by Texan_Bill

Has everyone (or anyone) forgiven SI for the crap they pulled after the Rockets Championships???

I HAVEN'T. They can kiss my butt in front of Macey's window (thanks Specnatz).

Yeah I recall that, they were not going to do the special edition of the Rockets first championship like they have done for every team for more than two decades, until the PR nightmare insued. Then they had to say it was a misquote and that they were always going to do the special edition.

Your welcome. Glad to help.

[LORK 88]

I think that actions speak louder than words, which is why the commercials poked fun at Mario and Houston without regard in the 1st place. They can half-appologize all they want, because in the end they bought into the hype that landed Vince Young the cover.

[Double Barrel]

If only EA's product was as good as their ad campaigns. Madden has become a joke of a video game franchise, barely updating rosters from year to year. After they signed exclusive rights to the NFL (and every other football league, for that matter), they keep pushing the same old tired Madden.

Hit 'em where it hurts: the bank account. Don't buy the product, but instead opt for something much, much better. All-Pro Football 2k8 is coming this summer, and we can play as legends of the game. I can't wait to draft Earl Campbell to my franchise!

[SheTexan]

That commercial just made me that much happier that RB is NOT on our team!! What a classless thing to do! He's an a*s who has yet to pay for the lies and deceptions he committed while he was at USC. I am GLAD he is not a Texan!! JMO!

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

If only EA's product was as good as their ad campaigns. Madden has become a joke of a video game franchise, barely updating rosters from year to year. After they signed exclusive rights to the NFL (and every other football league, for that matter), they keep pushing the same old tired Madden.

Hit 'em where it hurts: the bank account. Don't buy the product, but instead opt for something much, much better. All-Pro Football 2k8 is coming this summer, and we can play as legends of the game. I can't wait to draft Earl Campbell to my franchise!

DB you can't draft Earl. He's mine..... Lol!!

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Specnatz

Yeah I recall that, they were not going to do the special edition of the Rockets first championship like they have done for every team for more than two decades, until the PR nightmare insued. Then they had to say it was a misquote and that they were always going to do the special edition.

Your welcome. Glad to help.

Exactly... "it was a misquote".... What a cheesy, lousy spin!!

Honestly the commercials didn't bother me....I liked them...

I think it just livens the spirit of competition....It's not like they were nasty or down right degrading about it...A little trash talk and show boating can be a good thing as long as it's not taken to extremes...I just think it makes the games with the Saints and Titans this year even better because now we as fans want Mario to crush them both even more now....Which will cause a supercharged atmosphere which hopefully the players feed off of....

Basically I don't think it was over the top...I think it just adds to the excitement....

[Silver Oak]

I left my thoughts on the original blog but I will reiterate them here. EA won't feel the pinch much, but I'm not buying this years version as a result of the ads.

It was a premeditated ad campaign aimed directly at our FO in an attempt to embarrass them.

See ya at Reliant RB....as will DeMeco, Mario, and Amobi.

[BigBull17]

VY's comercial didnt bother me, it was Reggie and that smug "thanks" that makes me want Mario and Okoye to play wishbone with the little twig. He has done next to nothing and he gets credit for the Saints sucess. Breese and McAlister should be pissed. That attitude from a smug POS, who wasnt even the best rookie on his own TEAM. Lame.

[Double Barrel]

I'm still waiting for the NFL owners meeting where they re-write the NFL rule book to compensate for Reggie Bush's greatness. We were told by 'experts' that he was the kind of player that would require a new rule book, so I'm waiting. but not holding my breath

[jerek]

Originally Posted by the wonger need food

Personally, I like the commercials and hope they serve as motivation for Mario and the entire organization. I have a sneaky feeling that Mario is going to outplay Crazy Legs and Scatback this season.

Originally Posted by xtruroyaltyx

Honestly the commercials didn't bother me....I liked them...

I think it just livens the spirit of competition....It's not like they were nasty or down right degrading about it...A little trash talk and show boating can be a good thing as long as it's not taken to extremes...I just think it makes the games with the Saints and Titans this year even better because now we as fans want Mario to crush them both even more now....Which will cause a supercharged atmosphere which hopefully the players feed off of....

Basically I don't think it was over the top...I think it just adds to the excitement....

That was actually my thought. As a player and now a coach I've always loved being the underdog (whether truly or perceived) and having something to prove--if this isn't fuel to that fire, I don't know what it will take. I personally hope Mario decleats Vince AND Reggie this year and then makes a commercial about it, and I want to be there cheering him and rest of the team on when he does it.

As much as I hated losing to Vince and the Tacks this year, that was the most exciting professional sports game I've ever been to, and I look forward to many more years of what might well become one of sport's greatest rivalries. The NFL couldn't have written a better introduction if they had planned it.

[jerek]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

If only EA's product was as good as their ad campaigns. Madden has become a joke of a video game franchise, barely updating rosters from year to year. After they signed exclusive rights to the NFL (and every other football league, for that matter), they keep pushing the same old tired Madden.

Hit 'em where it hurts: the bank account. Don't buy the product, but instead opt for something much, much better. All-Pro Football 2k8 is coming this summer, and we can play as legends of the game. I can't wait to draft Earl Campbell to my franchise!

I have been a die-hard Maddenite for years and it saddens me to see the product becoming what it has. For three years now the game has not changed significantly and in many instances has actually gotten worse. For the first time in years I will not buy the game outright the day it hits the shelves but will wait and see, perhaps rent it first, before making my decision. I was afraid from the moment I heard of that exclusive rights deal that this might happen, and it seems that it has.

Folks, in a nutshell, this is a small but potent example of what happens where there is no capitalism--no competition--for manufacturers of a product.

[gtexan02]

Does anyone else feel like this is turning into the Geico commercials?
And we're the cavemen.

Here we are complaining to our therapists

"Drafting Reggie Bush was so easy, even the Texans could do it!"

[Khari]

somebody got this upset over a commercial? .....