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If you used to play your games on a little green screen while the sounds of Tetris blasted out through a little tinny mono speaker, then maybe it’s time to get yourself checked out for any internal nasties – so says American charity The Prevention of Cancer Foundation.
In a series of clever billboard advertisements, the charity links the age of old-school gamers with a cancer screening program – highlighting that if you were around playing games back in the day when the Game Boy was popular, it’s time to get a cancer check-up.
The boards show a picture of the famous old Nintendo console with the message “If you’ve played this screen, it may be time to screen for cancer.” alongside it.
It’s pretty hard-hitting really as a lot of us OG gamers probably think we are younger than we actually are (I’m looking at you, er mirror).
Of course, the wrong way to read the message is that the Game Boy was some kind of radiation-emitting hell device which of course it wasn’t, but that didn’t stop a lot of people on X from missing the point completely.
The campaign certainly caused a reaction on X (once you get past those who were adamant the Game Boy does not cause cancer – imagine an eye-rolling emoji here) with comments such as:
this billboard is giving me an existential crisis pic.twitter.com/2W8RiMRJWe
— eStarland (@eStarland) July 31, 2024
“They sure know how to make the #RETROGAMING community feel uneasy.”
“You have to admit that’s a pretty good idea to get people’s attention and get them thinking.”
“This is a very effective ad. Well done. Get screened.”
We can’t imagine this was cleared in any way by the sometimes over-zealous lawyers at Nintendo but it is certainly a clever way of reaching this particular dynamic.
The Game Boy, which launched some 35 years ago and including all its later guises went on to sell almost 120 million units worldwide. There have been several famous Game Boys including the Gulf War Game Boy which we looked at recently.
Featured Image: estarland
