The Return of Stinky Ads!

Anyone who read a gaming magazine during the heydey of the SNES has (not so) fond memories of the print ads for Earthbound. The game was essentially a Japanese NES game that was ported to the SNES. Set in modern times, you ate hamburgers and drank sodas instead of taking health potions. Checking in barrels? Heck no. In the town of Onette you look in trash cans.

So, it was a wonderful game, but that ads for it literally stunk. Nasty, putrid smells. They're the stuff of legend on gaming message boards.

It seems that Microsoft has taken notice with their new print ads for Forza 2. Yes, these ads have a flap you can open, much like a perfume ad, and you get a smell. And not a pleasant one. I have no scanner, so I'm going to describe the ad here, and tell you to pick up an issue of EGM to experience it for yourself. Someone could send me a scan of it, and I'll post it here, but honestly, you've got to see (and smell) this for yourself. Honestly, having it sitting here on my desk is making me a little naseous.


We see a nice render of a sports car, with white lettering beneath it which reads 'There's only one thing tje game doesn't give you." And then you open the flap and see "The Smell. This is the scent produced by the Nissan Fairlady Z as it pulls away from the starting grid using 275/35-19 Toyo Proxes R888 racing tires inflated to 42 PSI"

I see complaints about the ad being in the letters section of just about every mag this ad runs in.