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Sony and Kevin Butler Settle Lawsuit over Tire Commercial
Jerry Lambert, the actor who plays Kevin Butler, hilariously child-like vice president of everything in PS3 advertisements, has settled his lawsuit with Sony, clarifying that his appearance in a commercial involving a Nintendo Wii last year might have created confusion regarding what products his character endorses.
Due to the settlement, Lambert has agreed to avoid appearing in any advertising related to video games (outside of Sony/PlayStation) for two years. When that wraps up, he can go on a video game-endorsement rampage should he choose to do so. However, he’ll have to report any appearances he makes to Sony, according to Media Post.
In their words, this will allow Sony proper time to “assess whether or not Lambert’s intended performance violates [Sony's] rights in the Kevin Butler character”. After all, Sony owns the rights to that character, and will maintain that ownership into the foreseeable future.
As for whether or not we’ll see more of Kevin Butler, well, we’ll simply have to play the waiting game. Spoiler: it’s one of the most boring games of all time, especially when you realize you could be playing something better like Ni No Kuni or Far Cry 3.
Oh, right — this is about Kevin Butler. I know what’ll wrap this up fittingly.
[via Computer and Video Games]
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That’s a F’ed up contract when people own your image.
Why did they have to “invent” the character, anyway? I mean, the name is freaking retarded and the commercials weren’t that clever. Shouldn’t Sony put less focus on this guy, and put their attention back on, oh, I don’t know… PSN?
My take was that Sony wasn’t executing well on the marketing prior to Butler’s entrance, and this new push for a funnier, hipper PlayStation was very much (to me) reminiscent of the Sony that made the original PlayStation. Butler was funny, new, and fresh — and to sell as silly of a product as the PlayStation Move, you need a certain something to make it initially appealing.
Sony came out swinging, proclaiming the dominating processing power of the PS3 at first, but then fell off in both popularity and profitability when software development for the darn thing was near-impossible for third parties from the outset.
But, to your point, there are far greater aspects of Sony’s field they could be tending to, and in fairness that’s why different company departments exist — to focus squarely on different aspects of making a product successful.
Sony is poised to make a real entrance with the next console generation, and there’s a lot of eyes on them to really one-up Microsoft out of the gate. If they get their priorities straight, and design a system that’s damn good — you could see a very substantial flipping of tables in the coming two years. And since Microsoft thinks it’s the hot stuff on the market and can’t be topped, it’s a perfect opportunity for some rugs to be tugged out from under some Microsoft legs.
And before we throw Nintendo on the table — let’s not. I’m a firm believer in many of Nintendo’s ideas, I have been for some time. To say they’re not successful or “getting with the program or times” is based on the idea that all companies should follow a similar path or ideology. Nintendo is doing pretty good as it is, and is making great strides in… well, a direction. Whether or not that direction will ultimately benefit them in the long run, it’s certainly a direction, and they’re taking it a stride at a time.
[/end mini editorial]
@Landon,
True, he did change the Playstation “image” somewhat. Before, I saw the PS1 and PS2 as the fun, sleek platform to game on. The PS3’s absurd launch price, lack of 3rd party support and odd promotion campaigns turned everything into something else entirely. I don’t know exactly what word to describe it, but it certainly turned me off. Thusly, I turned to the 360.
So, in truth, Sony did good by picking up “Butler.” However, Sony doesn’t need to worry about advertising the Playstation brand anymore. It’s out the door. They hit the home-plate. From what I hear, the PS3 is actually surpassing the 360 in terms of units shipped. My issue is that they haven’t dropped Butler sooner. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise with him, right? Why not allocate those funds somewhere more meaningful? Maybe won’t be much of a difference, but at least they aren’t wasting funds.
As for next gen, the PS4 and 720 are both too clouded to seem enticing. The rumors that they are using dated tech (Read: not that big a leap in the graphics department) kinda disappoints me. However, I am an optimist, especially with that IlluminiRoom, Kinect 2, and Oculus Rift on the horizon. If Sony can put together a good ad program and launch before MS, then I believe they would have picked up on the golden ticket they’ve been looking for since 2006.
Nintendo… Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo…. It’s like they are just too stubborn for their own good. I get the feeling they had developed the Wii and Wii U within a year of each other, but only wanted to fun the Wii. The only reason we saw the Wii U dawn was because they realized the Kinect and Move were destroying the gimmick of their controls. If Nintendo doesn’t catch up with MS and Sony (I don’t think they have even now) they will be strong-armed out of the home-console market. They are masters in the handheld market. Maybe they’ll fare better there?
Postscript – Butler still sucks a**. :)
Stay frosty,
Mugenite