It's Hasbro. This is part of their Blueprint 2.0 strategy to monetize everything.
Maybe it's just years of labor organizing, but I'm deeply unsettled by this for some reason. Surrounding the consumers on all sides with crosshairs centered on them gives me a bad vibe.
Corporate doesn't just want a lot of money, they want all of the money.
Also, how easy it has to be to convince an average American that this is a good thing. That they want you to be at the center, because they care about you, or some other horseshit.
Crosshairs on people? Fine. crosshairs are on CEOs? panic.
I've seen publishers advertise their other titles within the box, which honestly, not an issue for me. These, however, are crossing a line.
If any of the components have advertising on them I'm removing that game from my library and never touching another game from that publisher, ever. One of my reasons for getting into board gaming was to avoid this shit.
Yeah - it seemed pretty normal for a Parker Bros game from the 70s to come with a couple of inserts that advertised their other games. I want to say the same thing about NES cartridges.
The original 1965 broadcast version of A Charlie Brown Christmas special, a 20 minute rant against consumerism, had scenes like Snoopy crashing into a Coca-Cola Sign. Because advertisers paid to have their ads built into the show itself.
Hasbro.
This is disgusting.
They have been performing horribly quarter to quarter lately, and so pretty much all of their product lines have had shit like this happen. Nerf has no springs and shoddy plastic, Wizards of the Coast are dropping a ton of middling-popular products from production, even their Marvel line has really taken a hit to quality with bad fabrics, cheap printing, etc. Everything is being cut to the barest minimum to try and claw back their profitability.
... It's stunning they can't seem to connect the dots, really.
It feels like MTG has a crossover/cash grab every other month. It's just too much.
Yeah, MTG is a flaming dumpster heap of new mechanics every other month; I got sick of it and stopped playing Arena. Then, they had their whole OGL fiasco prompt a whole lot of content makers (who, let's be real, did a lot of work for Hasbro basically for no cost to the company) to move off of 5E.
I hate being advertised to so fucking much.
It's visual and often auditory assault. More people should deface public advertising.
Then you'll love this new product that's guaranteed* to reduce the amount of advertising you're exposed to!
*Warning: may cause blindness, loss of hearing, and inability to leave your room.
But in all seriousness... I hate it, too. It's fucking everywhere.
It's branded right there on the front. It should really be free since it has ads, though!
imo if you pay for something, ads should be illegal lest it's like the company logo
https://instructions.hasbro.com/en-ca/instruction/the-game-of-life-tripadvisor-edition
This is like saying a LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean set is an ad for Disney.
It's literally just the "tripadvisor edition." It's a legal agreement between both parties to brand the game with tripadvisor stuff. The traditional Game of Life is still out there, without this. There's also a litany of other versions of these special editions of the game. The tripadvisor one does seem a little weird, but it's not any weirder than Game of Life Yokai Watch edition. I didn't know life involved death and ghosts.
Like you bought the advertisement knowing it was an advertisement because it says "tripadvisor edition" right there on the fucking box.This is exactly what was ordered, there's absolutely nothing to indicate this is a "TripAdvisor edition".
I don't consider licensed themes like a "LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean" set to be ads, or at least if it is its more like some sort of "mutually beneficial" ad. Those are actually cool or neat or themed in something of interest that has a fan base like a show or movie. Some random logo of a website/service slapped all over is not that.
Interesting, apparently been spammy for years
On the backside of the box, there is microscopic branding for TripAdvisor on one of the cards. There is also a closeup photo of the cars that shows the TripAdvisor logo a couple of times across the board design. These could easily be missed by someone who wasn’t looking for them. The branding should have been more clear and the producer likely did mean to deceive. Always check the reviews before buying and take note of the manufacturer’s specific ID number or code for the product.
I’ve almost entirely stopped purchasing online unless I am familiar with the specific product or I have watched a thorough review of it. If you had the box in your hands, you’d be more likely to spot the branding on the back, and the side faces might have branding too.
There are fringe instances where the outward distinctions between manufactured products are so trivial that you’d really have to be in the know to differentiate between them. The only occurrence that I can think of which I’ve experienced is buying CDs that have the swear words censored vs. uncensored.
I agree that the other commenter’s analogy doesn’t make sense with the packaging/marketing context.
I didn't know life involved death
You learned about mortality from Game of Life Yokai Watch edition?
Thank you for clearing it out. Important detail indeed. You get what you pay for I guess?
I just don't anymore.
I don't buy a wire- or mechanical- puzzle I make one. If I want a tile-based game (think scrabble, qwirkle, rummy) I make them with upcycled junk and paint markers.
I don't buy bread or pizza crusts or tortillas, I make them. I can make a month of bready products in an optimized hour of work for 1/30th the price.
I play indie games by inexperienced developers who charge $4.99 because I'd rather try new mechanics even if they fall flat.
I'm currently precipitating copper into an aqueous solution on my stovetop and later I'll try electroplating the copper onto some random thing. Because this is free and fun AS FUCK. Forget going to the arcade or to a pre-packaged event show or movie.
I am just drifting away from everything that's not hand made. Fuck it already.
No shade here but do you also work a full time job? If so shit where do you find the time.
In full forensic accounting, you make/save money by getting off the "convenience" train.
Once you realize that a checkerboard costs $5 but a piece of paper and 24 pennies costs... well nothing... it starts to make more sense. Because most stuff in life, you use once then throw away or stuff into the closet and never think about again.
Breadmaking is just one great example. If I save $300 by making some bread I have to earn $300 less at work. I work less now.
I need to see a picture of your phone. Could you send me a chalk rubbing?
(Sorry, had to joke) More to the point, how does it take you an hour to make pizza dough, bread and tortillas? Pizza dough on it's own takes 15-20 minutes active time, and then it's a long wait
Dough is a great discussion topic to explore.
Once I learned to make dough, I realized it's actually a total of 30 minutes work distributed over 4 hours. Reorganize and re-prioritizing my time made it work. Simple planning.
If I make dough, I make 2Kg so I cut it up, freeze the chunks I wont be immediately using and I have dough for as long as I need. Why make new dough every time? Batches.
It's way simpler than you guys think. Scoffing is fun, but getting off the "convenience train" was the best thing I ever did. Requires a bit of upfront adjustment and learning, but change isn't free.
edit: Another guy above was mean/joking about not having a job. Think, guys. If I save $300 on bread that's $300 I don't have to earn at work and pay taxes on. I win big for just learning to stop the bs already and take control.
I already dislike ads in general, but ads on things I pay for, be it physical goods or digital services, is crossing a line I find unacceptable.
I just want to point out... They took a quote from what appears to be a review... Then credit tripadvisor for it rather than the person who made the comment/review on the tripadvisor platform.
Bad citation.
And it's the most generic boring non-specific review imaginable. Any Markov chain would generate better results.
Nothing. Is. Sacred. If we had any form of functional government they wouldn't be stuck 75 years behind on progress and dumb issues like this could be taken care of. The only chance of this happening now is some random gov official doing it as a PR stunt.
Gotta get the kids started on associating themselves with our brand now. Subvert the competition asap.
Just wait until toilet paper real estate starts being used.
And that's why you should always use an adblocker (black permanent marker)
And they did this since 2017 (I think)
