Battlefield 3's TV spot features Jay-Z '99 Problems,' sets inappropriate tone

by Jeff Mattas, Sep 23, 2011 12:30pm PDT

Related Topics – Battlefield 3, xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Electronic Arts, PC, DICE, Battlefield Series

I'm not quite sure how to feel about the new Battlefield 3 teaser trailer released today that serves as a prelude to a full-blown TV spot set to air on September 26 "in a number of countries." Scored to Jay-Z's hit '99 Problems,' it's kind of an odd duck. Is EA is trying to pointedly call attention to the fact that there are no women in Battlefield 3, or are the misogynistic undertones purely coincidental?

Here's the thing: I'm looking forward to playing Battlefield 3 as much as anyone, but mass-marketing efforts like this tend to leave a bad taste in my mouth. To be fair, a lack of female soldiers in shooters isn't Battlefield 3's issue alone, but the issue really seems highlighted here by how the teaser is scored.

Check the teaser from the Battlefield 3 blog out for yourself, and share your thoughts in the comments.

In any event, maybe the organizers of the large, private, no-women-allowed Battlefield 3 LAN launch party in Texas (reported by Kotaku) can use it as their new anthem.

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Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Battlefield 3's TV spot features Jay-Z '99 Problems,' sets inappropriate tone.

A teaser for a new TV-bound Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer has arrived, featuring Jay-Z's hit, '99 Problems."

Sep 23, 2011 12:30pm PDT

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Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Battlefield 3's TV spot features Jay-Z '99 Problems,' sets inappropriate tone.

A teaser for a new TV-bound Battlefield 3 gameplay trailer has arrived, featuring Jay-Z's hit, '99 Problems." : Shacknews
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- Yeah, weird insinuation. : re-verse
- The Brokeback LAN party. : spammehardo
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  That song doesn't even fit. Why did they even bother paying for the rights? : ateam311
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    Marketing people aren't always the brightest bulbs. : Chod
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      Thats a little unfair, I would say "people in general" not necessarily pertaining to marketing. : VegasX
      
      That is true. There are plenty of really good marketing people. : Chod
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    they're marketing to the dbags : zerog83
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      sorry, that was mean. they're marketing to Call of Duty players : zerog83
      
      so codbags : thejay247
  - you would have 99 problems but a bitch ain't one...on the battlefield? : supermonkeyballz
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    Fair rights lets them use a small percentage of the song without paying the fee right? : atom519
    - Fair use doesn't extend to marketing/advertising. : Floppygrandma
  - Why not? the smell of most of the players after a week of no showers glued to the game should keep most w... : fractured_sanity
  - #31
    
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    By: Schnapple x Show Full Post
    
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    It makes about as much sense as that slow piano cover of "Mad World" over the Gears of War commercial.
    
    And that thing went over great.
    
    Sep 23, 2011 1:54pm PDT
    
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    It makes about as much sense as that slow piano cover of "Mad World" over the Gears of War commercial. ... : Schnapple
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      That was good. This was tacky and bizarre. : Happy Doodle Muffin
      
      While the title of Mad World is appropriate for a game where you fight alien humanoid locusts that you ca... : Alexnader
  - Why is everybody so surprised? Textbook EA marketing right here folks. : mystifier
  - celebrating the end of DADT : 60days
- haha so so bad : Cashh
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  The soldiers wife is at home struggling to keep the family afloat : burningpantsman
  - That's the dlc. : re-verse
- The music didn't really fit this trailer, although great visuals. : pun][sher
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  You guys are looking to deep into this. Also that Jay Z song is about dogs. Police K-9 units, not ladie... : SinisterInfant
  - Maybe they should point that out in the commercial "Disclaimer: This song is about K-9 units, not bitches... : VegasX
  - "If you're having girl problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one". The so... : peepooppooppee
  - So speaketh Joseph Ducreax : JAgamemnon
- probably trying to evoke the Jesus Walks/Kanye vibe from the Jarhead trailer : jvox
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  Yeah not sure that was the best choice. RAGE on the other hand has a better song for their launch trailer... : VegasX
  - Without making any comment on the lyrical content, it's a nice contrast in how music choice and editing c... : jet-poop
  - I don't care much for Rage but that trailer is fucking great. : Godhatesfatpeople
  - I really hope the slide guitar they used in all the behind the scenes vignettes is in that game all the t... : GreggD
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    I love the music in this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm1FOnSbHXA : Happy Doodle Muffin
    - Fucking hell now I have to buy RAGE on launch :/ THANKS A LOT! : etherboy
  - that's what happens when you use anything Maynard does : derelict515
  - Agreed ^^^ : Taggart
- Shitty marketing ideas make for a shitty trailer. Next! : Firefly1985
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  They should hire whoever put together the BC2 TV Spot - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akiOXk6i2iY : Crabs Jarrard
  - Yes! : Chipwarrior
  - right? Good stuff right here. : Hemtroll
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    too bad BC2 was never quite as fun as that ad. : grendel
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      I don't even think that map was in the game. I definitely don't remember a small desert town map with tan... : pyide
      
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      arica harbor. tanks on rush, buggies on conquest, no helo... : radio_babylon
      
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      Doesn't look like Arica Harbor at all and there aren't buggies on conquest, it's a tiny infantry only thi... : pyide
      
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      there absolutely are buggies on conquest. not jeeps, but buggies. theres a buggy at the uav station on th... : radio_babylon
      
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      that is, where the uav is in rush, the buggy is on conquest... : radio_babylon
      
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      I really don't remember any vehicles in conquest, not even a quad bike, but looking it up apparently one ... : pyide
      
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      From http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/Arica_Harbor "The Conquest variant of this map is very infantry... : pyide
      
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      meh i call the quads buggies... sue me :) but it is arica, you can especially tell in the last few sec... : radio_babylon
      
      Well I don't even know what they are actually called, I've always called the three seater things with the... : pyide
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  Jesus fucking christ. EA Boss to Marketing: "I WANT COD PLAYERS PLAYING BF3 THIS HOLIDAY SEASON -... : dedgecko
  - If anything, I still believe they should have ripped off Valve's Meet The ________, except used it to hig : dedgecko
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  Barely 20 seconds of footage there. What a nonstory. There is no controversy here. : Xulu
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    There's 99 controversies, but a bitch aint one. : ManiacalMoose
    - I see what you did there. Well done. : SinisterInfant
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  What's confusing? It's a cool song set to war porn. It's not really much different than Gears of War get... : soggybagel
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    What makes me sad is that Gimme Shelter is actually a really good song. : Vorlonesque
    - I play that song a lot in Rock Band as a result. : GreggD
    - So is 99 Problems, it's a well-loved classic. I'm not even a fan of Jay-Z and I can admit that. : datoo
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  The only insinuation here is that those of us who are going to LIVE in BF3 don't have girlfriends, or if ... : mdk30
  - I married, gonna be playing this game all day long and wifey gon' be making me sammiches ALL DAY LONG! : JAgamemnon
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  I can see that they're trying to do the whole Gears of War thing (and trying to be unique as no one has d... : Bensam123
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    iirc Modern Warfare 2 did rap already. : ManiacalMoose
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      Yep http://youtu.be/AzwBeDV5IAY It's probably my favorite MW2 trailer. : deveus1
      
      Ahh... so this adds more to the argument of them trying to steal the CoD playerbase. : Bensam123
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  Pull the panties out of your gash and stop being such a politically correct bitch... : Cekik
  - youve got 99 problems, but PC aint one. : radio_babylon
  - whoa, you mean, thoughtless person! You actually understood the light humor behind it and didn't turn it ... : cell9song
- Stupid, didn't even need lyrics, just play the damn BF theme remix : nutcrackr
- publisher's gone wild: battlefield edition : mr.sleepy
- If you have the ability to put http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg0Tmydj29M in your trailer, putting anythi... : Gore87
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  I'm not a female and I thought the ad campaign was grossly out of taste. Why would DICE or EA risk sales... : Frraksurred
  - "LOW swing"? The trailer is obviously targeting the under 15 male demographic. No sales will be "lost". ... : cell9song
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  Out of all the songs they could have used. That's the one they went with? Really? : Godhatesfatpeople
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    I like this one posted in the comments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP3Pq8Uhhmc&hd=1 : Godhatesfatpeople
    - or this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcPBgXZVOas&hd=1 : Godhatesfatpeople
    - This is amazing. There's just too much wrong with the Jay-Z version to even mention. : etherboy
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  My word! Won't someone think of the bitches? : gooblerampling
  - oh no! not the bitches! : oscarkil09
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  The game will have more than 99 bugs though. That's just DICE. : K1Bond007
  - but a lady bug aint one... : radio_babylon
- Lame... I don't know what they were trying to do with that... The message I got from that was somethi... : darthfusion
- Well that's a heck of a thing! : Lord Skellington
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  Games will never be taken seriously as an artform. : MeestaNob
  - I drew a painting of a horribly drawn penis inserted into a wolverine. Does my bad piece make every other... : repeat2k
- this belongs on oprah, not shacknews : peasofme
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  How about letting the people who you feel might be offended say something rather than act as another typi... : cell9song
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    I agree. The white US male has been persecuted for far too long. Fuck women, fuck minorities, lets burn... : soggybagel
    - way to get the gist of the post friend. Did the word "white" offend? Sorry that I haven't been indoctr... : cell9song
- People seem to think that the problem is that people think it could be offensive. Oh my gosh! They said b... : Chipwarrior
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  Holy shit this thread is balls deep retarded. 99 problems is about having real problems in the world, bu... : TheVietSpecial
  - Agreed, I'm not sure how this non-story even got posted. : Sapiens
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    This post is worse than the whole thread. : Godhatesfatpeople
    - I really tried hard. : TheVietSpecial
  - Thank you for breaking that down so succinctly. If you have a moment, could you next explain the meaning... : bipolar
- Its a jab at Call of Duty over the attack dogs perk : Nehvrook
- After the small uproar over this shitty trailer, EA has decided to replace it with this one instead: htt... : ManiacalMoose
- Should have gone with "Represent" by Nas. : JAgamemnon
- That really is a shit choice of music. The BF series has some really great original music that goes we... : Beady
- Game is great. The song is terrible which makes this trailer terrible. : rekon099
- Oh come on aren't we stretching a bit here? The video itself is terrible but there's no way anyone should... : IronCladSmackMaster
- I made this account just now because I wanted to say how dissapointed I was in Shacknews for posting this... : Bigwill5052
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  I think reading into this as an overtly or purposeful sexist statement by DICE or EA is a huge mistake an... : passingstranger
  - The song might not be ment to be sexist, but with the shortened-ness of the lyrics, and how it starts of ... : rekon099
- I can hardly pay attention to what I'm watching with the dumb rap garbage. : rekon099
- Wow people will find anything to be offended by. Extrapolation seems to be the gaming journalists most us... : RomanMF

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