The Call of Duty franchise has for the past several years, implemented the bonus of celebrity guest appearances in their advertising, and the latest batch for MW3 has been no exception. Featuring Jonah Hill and Sam Worthington, the ads depict the learning process of ‘the noob’ as he and ‘the vet’ takes on a staggering amount of enemies while decked out in camo and tactical gear.
This depiction has done little to impress actual veterans, especially former Army SOF personnel like The Atlantic contributor D.B. Grady. "The advertisement trivializes combat and sanitizes war," he notes. "If this were September 10, 2001, maybe it wouldn't be quite so bad. Those who are too young to remember Vietnam might indulge in combat fantasies of resting heart rates while rocket-propelled grenades whiz by, and of flinty glares while emptying a magazine into the enemy.
"But after ten years of constant war, of thousands of amputees and flag-draped coffins, of hundreds of grief-stricken communities, did nobody involved in this commercial raise a hand and say, 'You know, this is probably a little crass. Maybe we could just show footage from the game.'”
Infinity Ward did however, show off footage of the game for official trailers, ones that were shown to a huge market around the world. The advertisements might be an affront to the men and women that serve, but to average Joes the success is undeniable. Modern Warfare 3 was able to break past $1 billion in sales in just over two weeks, and remains the most popular game for online play with the Xbox 360 and PS3.
It's also worth noting that Activision has done plenty to help veterans through its Call of Duty Endowment fund. Recently, Call of Duty Endowment donated $1 million from the sales of Black Ops to aid veterans.
