Wii Would Like to Play

This commercial for the Nintendo Wii from last year, as well as all of their ads, focuses on togetherness, simplicity of game play (not so much the main focus of this one but still there) and how you can make your very own unique representation of yourself which they call a “Mii”. They want to show the viewer that anybody can play this product, make personal representations of them for the game easily and have fun in a group while doing so.

The ad starts off with two suited Asian men driving to a business building and entering a board meeting with the Nintendo Wii saying: “We would like to play.” It then shows members of the board meeting going through the Mii making process, creating a Mii that looks like the head of the board or boss then giving him funny, false attributes like old lady hair. Everyone starts laughing and having a good time. This is one of the desires they present to us: buy our product and you‘ll have a good time, no matter who you are. It is the desire to have a good time, very relatable.
Having the commercial take place in a work enviroment also gives the idea that the Wii is a stress reliever, which is a great desire for almost anybody who goes through work pains. Everybody in the boardroom is of, relatively, the same age aside from the boss who is a balding older man. It shows the boss not amused at the Mii representing him but finally gives into a smile from how silly it looks. It then shows the boss playing one of the games that comes with the console: Wii Sports. They then show the boss getting a strike in the game [of bowling] and then a voice over that says: “Make your Mii, then play it on Wii”. Having the older boss man get a strike shows the simplicity of the game. It’s saying anybody can play this game, its simple, its fun, it brings people together.
This is also all evident in their first US commercial, for the Wii that came out in ‘06.

In this one the Asian men go to a family’s house and play the Wii with them. Again it shows the simplicity of game play and how everybody in the family can do it, even Mom and Dad! This creates a desire for the parents. When they see that the parents can do it, some Moms and Dads at home watching the ad will see this as a way to spend some time with their kids. Most video games nowadays are usually over the heads of parents and aren’t able to join in. It also shows the people being active during the game play, which also attracts adults to buy the product because it’s not regular couch potato way of playing. All the games for the Wii require the player to be lively when they play. That is the main reason Nintendo made this pioneering game system. Being healthy and active is a big desire for people in our society.
Nintendo aims their ads at everybody but really shoots at the adults, who would be purchasing the product (most likely) for their children. Kids already had the desire for the console before any ads were even released, either because of reading about it online or knowing that Nintendo always puts out fresh, exciting, innovative consoles every time thus the ads are primarily aimed at an older generation. Nintendo is true to their advertisements in that the Wii is a fun, easy, active and social entertainment system not to mention the cheapest one out there but they don’t mention the price in these ads, they believe that the needs they present are enough to draw a consumer in to buy it.

Douglas Mellon
TA: Steve Wetzel