Nigeria has international business interests?

quote kspiess

Nigeria has international business interests?

Does eBay and Internet fraud count?

Nigeria has serious business interests?

Everyone knows Sony hates Nigeria. Hell the PS3 used to be so expensive because it's a self aware machine that by 2012 will destroy Nigeria.

Seriously pretty soon someone is going to get offended by the "WW1" comment now. Sony shouldn't back down for something so trivial.

When I heard the commercial with that comment on it I immediately knew this had happened, but if you ask me, it's for the better. The new comment "That's how WWI got started." Made me laugh my ass off even more so that the Nigerian millionaire comment, which was funny, but not as funny as the WWI comment, IMO.

Whatever, I'm happy they made the change. Most of the Nigerians in the US (which is 1 out of 5 immigrants) are legit hardworking citizens.... hell, they have the largest concentration of college degrees out of every demographic in the nation. That was a stupid move and cemented my buying a 360.

Aww, Nne, can't take a joke? If you can't see the humor in this, then maybe you need to take a long hard look at what you believe. I think South Park made the best point in this regard; "Either its all funny, or none of it is." And letting your emotions dictate your choice in buying a product is just juvenile.

It's easy to say - "It's only a joke" - when you're not at the receiving end. This is not the first time Sony makes fun of something I hold dear. As a Catholic, I felt offended by the negative portrayal of the Church in the DaVinci Code movie. They didn't back down on that one simply because they stood to gain financially - unlike in this case. Sony - and all its subsidiaries - should be more sensitive to people's feelings or it will eventually hurt their business.

quote Oke

It's easy to say - "It's only a joke" - when you're not at the receiving end. This is not the first time Sony makes fun of something I hold dear. As a Catholic, I felt offended by the negative portrayal of the Church in the DaVinci Code movie. They didn't back down on that one simply because they stood to gain financially - unlike in this case. Sony - and all its subsidiaries - should be more sensitive to people's feelings or it will eventually hurt their business.

Pfft, how many Chinese jokes do I hear (especially from gamers) when my ethnicity is out in the open? Or American jokes when people know my nationality? Most of us have been on the receiving end and had the unfortunate stereotypes of our groups pointed out to us. Dude, they're making fun of video game JOURNALISTS in that video too. Just look at the actor playing a game journalist -- wow, such a flattering portrayal.

Sony isn't screaming, "KILL THE NIGERIANS RAAAH GENOCIDE DIFFERENT RACE GRRR." No, they're poking fun at a very real problem on the Internet -- Nigerian scams.

Sense of humor is nice to have.

I find that the world is easier to look if I constantly make fun of it.

Also, I really find no reason at all to take this commercial seriously. Those Nigerian government officials are kinda making unnecessary enemies by demanding Sony to change the commercial. It ruins their reputation even more in a sense. After all, it's not like Nigerian scams aren't a real problem.

What's wrong with taking the piss out of the Nigerian prince bank scam? Everyone knows it happens very often and it's always a nigerian... Or someone claiming to be a Nigerian.

So it's hardly slander.

how did they even see the commercial?

can somebody PLEASE give me your account details so i can put all this money that my grandma has left me, just forward me all your details so i can and u can start spending this money. we will have a long financialy healthy relation ship. thankyou, love from nigeria

quote Oke

It's easy to say - "It's only a joke" - when you're not at the receiving end. This is not the first time Sony makes fun of something I hold dear. As a Catholic, I felt offended by the negative portrayal of the Church in the DaVinci Code movie. They didn't back down on that one simply because they stood to gain financially - unlike in this case. Sony - and all its subsidiaries - should be more sensitive to people's feelings or it will eventually hurt their business.

Sorry, I had a life to attend to. Ok, going a little further on Lydia's example, I'm part of a minority that was systematically wiped out in order to make room for the Manifest Destiny of our "great" USA. Not only that, when parts of your order came to our land, you declared us heathens and gave us several VD's, as well as a host of other diseases. And I'm patently offended that the Catholic Church portrays itself as a religion, instead of hate-mongers, Nazi collaborators, and the cause of much of the world's suffering and resentment towards religion.

But.... I laugh it off because I know that is the only way to stay sane. Without a sense of humor, you might as well just put your head in the sand because the world is going to consistently p1ss you off. And you can be offended all you want at The DaVinci Code, just don't go and see it. But that doesn't mean that Sony is bad because it released the movie. Just like the Catholic Church isn't bad that it kept the Dark Ages going for so long.

LOL, hehe, feel free to flame away!

Oh, and I have a bridge to sell you... great location, lots of traffic, high name recognition... and its right in New York! Its to help my second niece to get a kidney transplant from... Angola.

(you thought I was going to say Nigeria!)

omg those nigerian government please take a joke...nway WOW sony what a wimp hiss they changed it...nways i thought the add was kinda warnin g people about scammers hehe..n yeah ther is a nigerian billionaire now..they dont just go around recording it in forbes watever..i h8 that stuff..makes me look poor..stupid E! people

@ TheFogIsRising
Oh you really were wiped out and still here to give your opinion. That you take that is like describing your father's house with your left hand(a proverb you will be very intelligent to understand). There are over 40 million Nigerians and you judge them all by what you hear in the news? The Nigerian government should have taken a stronger stand,like a ban on Sony products for a week which would have cost them some billions and would make them think twice before making such ads in future.No matter what is going on we still have some pride in who we are,that is not usually shown to the world.

Yeah, that's pretty much an overreaction deals.

First of all, no one judges a nation based on internet scams. That's just silly.

quote deals

@ TheFogIsRising
Oh you really were wiped out and still here to give your opinion. That you take that is like describing your father's house with your left hand(a proverb you will be very intelligent to understand). There are over 40 million Nigerians and you judge them all by what you hear in the news? The Nigerian government should have taken a stronger stand,like a ban on Sony products for a week which would have cost them some billions and would make them think twice before making such ads in future.No matter what is going on we still have some pride in who we are,that is not usually shown to the world.

Wow, deals, what a great way to have a discussion with some piece of esoteric knowledge that has no bearing on the discussion and has probably never been heard outside of your little group of friends. I don't judge Nigerians because of what I hear in the news. I judge the small minority that try to scam people out of money; however, there's lots of people that do that. And they're not limited to the African continent! In fact, here in this country, we pioneered the graft! We got it from the British, who got it from... and so on. I personally don't care what country you're from, but at least get the message right instead of jumping to conclusions based on a reply to a lurker who doesn't even have the decency to register with the site that he's posting on.

More to the point, aren't you doing the same thing? Accusing people of not seeing your viewpoint because they are "stupid Americans". Look, laugh at it; you obviously know it's happening, otherwise you wouldn't be so p1ssy. And the example was a way to show how something bad can happen and you not let it affect you.

Besides, does anyone really believe that Sony would be in the slightest way affected by the Nigerian government banning their products? H3ll, I just couldn't stop laughing when you said "BILLIONS"!! And your nationalistic fervor is just short of tepid (you might use Wikipedia to look up the bigger words).

Hey, as a last thought, here's an idea; why not show your pride in your country by policing your populace and having them stop trying to scam people if you don't want to be made fun of? I know its novel, but I think your argument is best described in the following quote (and no, I'm not going to use something and not give you the source):

“It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.” - Max Eastman

http://thinkexist.com/quotations/sense_of_humor/

Guys check out www.419eater.com if you want some laughs at Nigerian scam artists' expense. Awesome site. They scam the scammers. Check it out !

I found this news quite ordinary.......

this commercial was funny as hell and when i saw it i laughed my ass of. it is either all funny or not funny at all. But that being said, it wasnt south park and it wasnt a cable show it was a commercial that wld air on network tv and i guess sony realized that the placement of such a catchy phrase belonged somewhere else. that did make sense. I think it is completely daft of Nigerians to get mad at that but be proud when Collin Powell is dancing on stage to yahoozee (a song all about trickin foreigners thru internet scams). It was not that bad. the only problem is that sony hasnt really made a commercial that refers to a nation just like that..they clda said id be the richest nigerian scam artist or sumthing but a nigerian millionaire?? come on...its like saying "you cant bring people from another country to urs agaisnt their will to do all the work. if that were the case i'd be a rich white man."
all in all it was funny and i am nigerian so...yeah. besides they always use greed to scam ppl thru emails. my grandma sent me some money but i need ur help in gettin it out of the trust fund and then we can split it lmao..rilli we can split it??? oh come on

@ kspiess

You, sir, are a god among men for finding that site! I don't think I've laughed that hard or long in quite a while. The best one was the story about Ana Lucy Felcher. It's about time someone showed the scammer's who has the upper hand. And again, taking it humorously was much more effective than getting upset.

Thanks man

Ya, that trophy picture gallery is priceless.

my response

http://oonwoye.com/blog/2009/09/08/how-all-nigerians-became-scammers/

quote OoTheNigerian

my response

http://oonwoye.com/blog/2009/09/08/how-all-nigerians-became-scammers/

Great, you have a blog. Congratulations on not being unique or clever in the slightest. I still think you are missing the point; and let me restate it in no uncertain terms...

WE DON'T THINK THE ENTIRE COUNTRY OF NIGERIA IS MADE UP OF SCAM ARTISTS. WE ONLY WANT YOU TO SEE THE HUMOR IN THAT YOUR COUNTRY HAS BECOME A MEME IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD BASED ON (we assume a minority) WHAT HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED AS A TREND. IF IT WERE NOT A TREND, THEN THESE SCAMS WOULD NOT BE REFERRED TO AS '419 SCAMS'.

Btw, the name 419 is from Nigeria's penal code, not an outside source. My advice is to still laugh at it. I have known lots of good people from Nigeria and they were all very easy-going. If you want to be p1ssed at something, be upset about the capitalists that are ruining your country's resources.

Oh, and to all people, if you are going to converse in English, at least run a spell and grammar check through your computer. It makes it hard to take you seriously (which is how I pick out scammers) when you write like a first grader.

No company should be allowed to malign the integrity of a whole nation just to make a profit. The Sony Ad is not funny. It simply plays on people's emotions regarding the so called 419 scams. If it mentioned 419 scams specifically, it could be excusable, but it referred to Nigerian millionaires, and there are lots of Nigerians who earned their millions through honest business operations. The Nigerian government has a duty to protect and defend the image of its citizens. Why did Sony not see it fit to use Bob Maddoff and the billions he scammed off several investors worldwide, or should we assume all Americans are Maddoff-type scammers because Bob Maddoff is American? Should all Germans be regarded as Hitler-supporters and Jew-haters because Adolf Hitler was German? Should all Italians be branded Mafia-agents because the Mafia operates in Italy? Are all Americans Hell's Angels drug-peddling gang members because the Hell's Angels are an American institution? As the saying goes, what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If Sony wants to make profits by campaigning against crime, it should look more broadly and not pick on any one nation or the most vulnerable. Fairness has no skin color or nationality. Another saying reminds us that Rome was not built in a day! Every country, Nigeria included, goes through its wilderness years or even decades. Eventually, the nation will find its feet. However, any form of corruption takes two. While no one can excuse the 419 scammers, I shudder to think about the greed on the part of the victim who really believes they can reap where they did not sow. The Nigerian scammers have only successfully exposed the greed in populations across the globe. Every nation should be concerned about the level of honesty in their citizenry.

I give up. Obviously, no one has a frikkin' sense of humor and they are so scared to defend their points, they don't register with this site. Grow a pair and stand for criticism.

Point 1: The ad wasn't racist
Point 2: There are lots of scams, but some of the more recent ones come from Nigeria
Point 3: Nigeria is far from vulnerable. It is also far from a lot of places in the world.
Point 4: Greed is universal. Everyone wants to make a quick buck and blaming the victims is juvenile.
Point 5: Your post make's it look like criminals who defraud money are the victims because:
a) they were made fun of in one commercial
b) the whole nation was made out to be scam artists
c) they were only trying to expose the greed of the world

So, instead of blaming the people really at fault, who are the greedy capitalists in your nation, you blame it on wilderness years. If the Nigerian government was so concerned about its citizens, why doesn't it offer college educations, healthcare, job training, ownership by the people of the natural resources, and so forth to the people?

But again, YOU'RE MISSING THE F*CKING POINT: Laugh at it. If you can't laugh, ignore it. If you can't do that, make your own damn commercial and support whatever product you deem is morally superior (I guess the 360 then...). If you can't do that, then STFU and get back to whatever it is you do. If all you're going to do is bitch, then you have no right to complain.

why don't I make fun of 9/11 then; United States government did it... Fool. I'm pure american so I ain't taking no sides.

wow,some of these comments are very disturbing.How can people choose to be so ignorant,imagine if there was adverts that refered to member of the western state in terms of their racist past and a particular country was named,imagine the up roar that will happen.Imagine if adverts branding Americans or the English as racist slavery dealers,will it still be a joke then.You cant disrespect an entire nation because of some bad eggs,even if its considered a failed state.This is just bullying and if you show more disrespect your are simply a bully.As deplorable as it was someone stated "How they saw the advert",like Africans are bush men with sticks and no technology,how disrepectful and racist.However he is right the advert was not meant for the typical Nigerian who lives on less than a dollar a day and cant afford 2 square meals let alone the luxury of a playstation.African suffer and Nigerians act sinisterly in desperation,the citizens are obviously smart and dont need to act criminal if the country is not failing them.Views like this destroy the chances the majority hardworking Nigerians and support for this disrespect is just as bad.I hope MLK's dream affects us and how we treat and see our fellow human.

Mr Fogisrising and co.
1.You obviously have a very immature mind and should not be speaking where adults are butting heads because any Nigerian complaining about the Sony ad has a right to since the issue here concerns his/her country.
2.You cant be blamed for not being patriotic because your forefathers are not responsible for taking USA to where it is now.
3.There has been a Sony store here in Nigeria as long as i remember,i had my PS2 repaired by a Sony company engineer with Warranty on it some years back.
4.You said something about Nigeria being too far away from the rest of the world,you should look at your map often if you did not have one in your learning years.
5.It is obvious a run and spell is not working on your computer because curses like "frikkin" and "stfu" will be highlighted in red and you will correct them since you are not a first grader....believe me i can go on and on in bringing out your insolence in all your comments but i reserve them for myself because i wont blame you,i blame my fellow countrymen who drag our names in the mud and let "PEOPLE" like you talk a fellow human being down.
7.What VDs did your "ORDER" have before my order infested your "ORDER".
Oh and i do not need to register to comment

Hey I am African American and I thought it was FUNNY! Estimated that over a BILLION people have received those SCAM emails about sending money. Respectfully the Nigerian government needs to focus on those scammers that are ruining their credibility. And PS3 needs to grow a pair.

quote Omokayode

Mr Fogisrising and co.
1.You obviously have a very immature mind and should not be speaking where adults are butting heads because any Nigerian complaining about the Sony ad has a right to since the issue here concerns his/her country.
2.You cant be blamed for not being patriotic because your forefathers are not responsible for taking USA to where it is now.
3.There has been a Sony store here in Nigeria as long as i remember,i had my PS2 repaired by a Sony company engineer with Warranty on it some years back.
4.You said something about Nigeria being too far away from the rest of the world,you should look at your map often if you did not have one in your learning years.
5.It is obvious a run and spell is not working on your computer because curses like "frikkin" and "stfu" will be highlighted in red and you will correct them since you are not a first grader....believe me i can go on and on in bringing out your insolence in all your comments but i reserve them for myself because i wont blame you,i blame my fellow countrymen who drag our names in the mud and let "PEOPLE" like you talk a fellow human being down.
7.What VDs did your "ORDER" have before my order infested your "ORDER".
Oh and i do not need to register to comment

Well, that's great that you have everything figured out.

1. Insulting someone is not the way to get people on your side, and assuming that someone has an immature mind speaks greatly about your hubris. I have never insulted anyone in these talks, merely pointing them to the fact that humor is the best defense against the world in any form.

2. Your use of double negatives is absolutely atrocious. You basically said I could be blamed for what people in the past have done. To be frank, I don't feel patriotic because that implies I believe in what my government does; I don't. I believe in what the founders attempted to do and I am repelled at what has been made of that.

3. Wow, you have a Sony store. Congratulations, welcome to capitalism. What bearing does that have on this conversation? That there is a presence there?

4. Nigeria is far from a lot of places, but that is relative. Perhaps instead of assuming that someone didn't learn what the countries in Africa were in school, you should see the philosophical aspects to that statement. Which, to wit, is not something that is normally taught in a secondary school.

5. Neoseeker has a language filter and to get some points across (by using curses), you have to misspell words. For example, I am typing "*bleep*ing" but that will be censored; to overcome this limitation, I use "frikkin" which as you can see is not censored.

And insolence? It sounds like the gentleman I am speaking to fits that definition much better than I do. And there was what I was waiting for. You "PEOPLE". What exactly do you mean by that? It sounds like to me that you are assuming that I am white, American, and patriotic; only the middle is true. That's the exact same thing that you are p1ssed off about; Sony made a blanket statement about a single country and now, you are making a blanket statement about people in another country. You have sunk to their level.

7. Wow, as much as I would like to unload, I think I will exercise a little discretion. VD stands for venereal disease; if you had paid attention in the dialogue, I was speaking of the aboriginal people of America and not about the aboriginal people of Africa. The order was defined as the Catholic church, which was part of the Spanish conquest of South, Central, and parts of North America. Not only them, but also members from other nations who explored this land before any Africans were ever shipped across the Atlantic.

Your arguments are all logical fallacies, which I don't feel like pointing out because I simply don't have the energy or the time. But by using such arguments, all you do is weaken your own position. Before I get to my only point, I would like to point out the paradox in your final statement; obviously, you did register when making your comment. My only point about this before is that some people are just lurkers and can't stand for criticism.

Now, the only point I want to make is the same that Darren Scott Monroe made; he laughed at it. He didn't get offended, he didn't become outraged, and he didn't write a check his butt couldn't cash. And he's right; your government needs to police its own people that are ruining your credibility. Instead, you are mad at the people who laughed at the joke... people that take themselves too seriously are at risk of being seen as bigots.

And to address the rest:

@Tyres: Actually, I did laugh at 9/11. And while it makes some sense the US did it, there's still not enough proof. Perhaps that makes me a bad person, but I thought of flying planes into buildings as a weapon when I was 7.

@joj: Ever heard of Custer's Revenge? And all western nations participated in slavery. It sucks, but it is the truth; we should accept it, laugh about our ignorance, and move on. If we keep obsessing about who did what to who, then we (as a planet) will never move on and will likely kill each other.

AND again, I can't stress this enough. Nigeria got its way, Sony changed the advert. So, since the minority imposed its will on the majority, you guys should feel accomplished. Congratulations...

HOWEVER, I still stand by the point that people need to laugh at stupid sh1t. This was utterly a non-issue and if everyone stepped back to see the inherent humor, then it wouldn't have been a big deal. But, it appears that most people (not saying Nigeria, but thinking it pretty dang loud) do not have a sense of humor. Sadly, I can't help you change your mind about that.

ok, i found the ad very funny but actually preferred the WW1 version! i consider myself american-nigerian, but my folks r old skool nigerian and i wandered what the fuss wuz all about initially, till i got their perspective. nigeria has gotten a bad rap and while they have their share of blame, the country is only 50 years old and is fighting that image; unfortunately, bad news travels faster than good. no matter how funny the ad (and it was funny), they gotta fight off and discourage any such seemingly harmless publicity that set them back in this PR battle. we all know that's what the little guy does; they fight until they can become big enough to "laugh off" such jokes; nigeria ain't there yet. so, folks like sony that can make a GREAT commercial (i maintain the WW1 version was better) w/out referencing them should do so. it's just like the GEICO cavemen, nobody remembers they (the cavemen) invented fire and everyone wonders why they get so sensitive about the line "it's so simple, even a caveman can do it" (i hope that doesn't piss off anyone!). i love these humorous commercials, but the guys that make them r paid enough to think up great ideas w/out pissing off a nation of 140m people or anyone for that matter; so sony did the right thing apologizing - they r in business to sell stuff and not piss folks off! GEICO's lucky that they r not too many cavemen looking for insurance!

Wow FogisRising. Quite the post! Perhaps you should consider law school. I thought you really teared down that argument there.

quote kspiess

Wow FogisRising. Quite the post! Perhaps you should consider law school. I thought you really teared down that argument there.

Hehe, thanks. That just goes to show you what 3 years of debate does to your ability to argue and poke holes in an argument. Now, if only my history teacher had the same view....

have you stopped to think about how greedy those that fall for these internet scams are?