For those that have spent more time that they would care to admit on Google Maps’ street view, this is for you. So say you are exploring your neighborhood on Google Maps, just wandering around being suitably impressed with the technology that lets you see a good chunk of the real world thanks to more actual photos than anyone sane could count. You turn a corner and smile with appreciation as you recognize a familiar block. Then you take out an assault rifle and open fire.
If this sounds appealing, then this new viral ad campaign, may be for you. Or you should seriously seek medical attention.
The idea is simple enough. You enter Google Maps street view mode (via a specific website), navigate your way around, and occasionally let loose a few rounds with the M4A1. Thankfully, the effect is little more than a few rounds of fire with sound effects. You can aim at the photos of people, but it won’t make any changes to the image. So it isn’t like you can go on an actual rampage, just a partial rampage for a PG crowd.
Battlefield Google, aka Google Shoot View, comes to us from the Dutch ad firm, Pool. They also released an ad to go with it, which you can see below.
The tagline reads: “Explore the beauty of the world’s cities, towns and villages through 360-degree street-level imagery… and fire a M4A1 assault rifle.”
The campaign is either genius, or criminally insane. Someone, somewhere is like going to be offended by the idea of allowing people to simulate firing a rifle into a group of people, but until then, it is an interesting viral campaign that definitely caught the attention of many.
