PLAYSTATION+NIGERIA ISH!

At the end of August, Sony was churning some lighthearted PlayStation 3 ads, poking fun at gaming journalists and other nonsense. All in good fun, right? Nigeria did not agree.

The Nigerian government took offense to one of Sony's ads on price cuts. Originally, the silly dialogue went something like this: "Bernie, you can't believe everything you read on the Internet. Otherwise I would be a Nigerian millionaire by now."

Nigeria was not amused. The government promptly demanded an apology from Sony, for allegedly damaging (or attempting to) the nation's upstanding reputation. Apparently, the Nigerian federal government really does believe this advertisement is an attempt to damage Nigeria's international businessinterests.

Information and Communication Minister Prof. Dora Akunyili released a statement in relation to the offense:

It is on record that Sony Corporation has operated in Nigeria since independence and has enjoyed tremendous patronage from Nigerians at home and abroad.

Over these years, there is no established record that the company has recorded any major fraud by Nigerians.

While Nigeria accepts that there are few criminal-minded people within her population like any other country including Japan, the home country of Sony Corporation, the Federal Government has put in place institutions to rid the country of fraudulent practices.

SCEA Statement Regarding PlayStation®3 TV Advertising

"It has come to our attention that a recent TV advertisement for PlayStation® may have offended some members of the Nigerian community. We never intended to create a situation that would upset anyone, and we have taken action to immediately remove the advertisement from the air. We apologize to anyone this may have offended."-SONY PLAYSTATION.