Ads for Obama to Appear in Madden '09 and Other Sports Video Games

by Jon Azpiri | October 14, 2008 at 03:25 pm

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Barack Obama has become the first presidential candidate to advertise in video games. The Illinois Senator's campaign has purchased ads that are now appearing in several sports video games, including the wildly popular Madden NFL '09 game.

Only gamers playing online in 10 states can see the ads, which appear as stadium signage or billboards, Rockwood said. (The ads are downloaded when gamers log on to the Xbox Internet service.) Unsurprisingly, all 10 states are swing states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. President Bush won all of those states in 2004 except for Wisconsin.

The ads began running Oct. 6 and will be visible until Nov. 3, the day before Election Day, Rockwood said.

The other Xbox games where the ads appear are "Burnout Paradise," "NASCAR 09," "NHL 09," "NBA Live 08," "Need For Speed: Carbon," "Need For Speed: ProStreet," "NFL Tour," and "Skate."

Technology blogs this week had reported on ads popping up in the racing game "Burnout Paradise." In the game, racers drive by a billboard that features the Obama's mug next to the words "Early Voting Has Begun/VoteForChange.com."