I think if they hinted at women having agency without men, it would be very poorly received. That is, if it wasn’t given an AO rating for pornographic content.
I was there for the 90s, and the sheer tackiness of the everywhere horniness in marketing was laughably bad, even by many modern standards. For example, it wasn’t uncommon for video game advertising to not even feature much of the actual game, just horny pictures and edgy remarks about what a loser the potential buyer is (for some reason hating their potential buyers openly was a common marketing strategy back then). CW for nudity in the first picture.
Lara Croft was advertised for the male gaze as much as possible, though her actual characterization was pretty much ignored in such marketing stunts.
I was actually put off from actually playing Tomb Raider games in my teenage years because the advertising made me think the games would be simultaneously horny and hostile to me while I played them. “You wanna see my boobs? TOO BAD LOSER BUT KEEP PLAYING!” or some crap like that.
The Lara that actually is and dare I say was was very different than that but I didn’t even find out for a long time.
That top Pic is a game called Forsaken, I remember seeing it at blockbuster and being really curious, cause the box art was that woman’s face against that same background with nothing else.
I think if they hinted at women having agency without men, it would be very poorly received. That is, if it wasn’t given an AO rating for pornographic content.
I was there for the 90s, and the sheer tackiness of the everywhere horniness in marketing was laughably bad, even by many modern standards. For example, it wasn’t uncommon for video game advertising to not even feature much of the actual game, just horny pictures and edgy remarks about what a loser the potential buyer is (for some reason hating their potential buyers openly was a common marketing strategy back then). CW for nudity in the first picture.
Lara Croft was advertised for the male gaze as much as possible, though her actual characterization was pretty much ignored in such marketing stunts.
You know, g*mers don’t appreciate how good they have it these days. I remember that last pic, but I had no idea who Guts was at the time.
I agree with you there.
I was actually put off from actually playing Tomb Raider games in my teenage years because the advertising made me think the games would be simultaneously horny and hostile to me while I played them. “You wanna see my boobs? TOO BAD LOSER BUT KEEP PLAYING!” or some crap like that.
The Lara that actually is and dare I say was was very different than that but I didn’t even find out for a long time.
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My very first awareness of Final Fantasy 7 was a full page horny picture of Tifa saying “you want a piece of me, big boy?”
I had no idea what the actual game was like; it was just horny because horny sold.
also traumatizing
That top Pic is a game called Forsaken, I remember seeing it at blockbuster and being really curious, cause the box art was that woman’s face against that same background with nothing else.
Lol it’s actually a 6DOF space shooter
It may have been a decent Descent-like but the marketing was so obnoxiously
that even teenage me was put off by it.
I remember being just confused