I'll admit it, the reason I chose this advertisement is not because of its terrible advertisement, but rather because of the system's name. In case you've never seen this before, let me be the first to introduce you to the Gamate. You read that right, this is the Gamate. While I'm 100% sure on how you spell this handheld's name, I have absolutely no idea how you're supposed to pronounce it. Is this the "Gay Mate"? Perhaps it's supposed to be pronounced "Game Ate," or maybe just "Game At". Maybe what they want me to say is "Game Mate," but I just don't get that from the "Gamate" spelling. Maybe it's just where my mind goes.

Regardless of the name, this commercial is the perfect guide to what NOT to do when developing a handheld ad campaign. First and foremost, black text on a dark blue background hurts my eyes, to the point where I could care less what it says. Since I'm not willing to buy special glasses in order to read the first few lines, the only message I get from the text is: "Shake". Shake? I thought this was a video game system, but now you want me to use it like a maraca?

And then there's the catch phrase. They've already introduced you to the Gamate, now "Come to grips with true entertainment value." I don't know about you, but if you're system is named Gamate perhaps it's wise to leave out words like "grip". And that's not even the hard sell, early on the commercial states: "We're the new boys on the block and were [sic] serious about gaming." How serious can you be when you can't even spell "we're" right? Have you ever read a less convincing sell? They might as well just say "yes, we're going to lose to Nintendo but that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy me and all of the other portables with stupid names." Oh, and one last question, why is the dude from the Blue Man Group playing the system, couldn't they get somebody with a realistic skin color?

FROM: Let Them Eat Bad Advertising