In a disturbing turn of events, pro-Israel advertising has reached games children across Europe, leaving parents and children completely scared.
The controversial ads, featuring images of rocket attacks, explosions and masked individuals, have raised concerns about the appropriateness of this type of content in games aimed at younger audiences.
Image: Shutterstock/Reproduction
Affected people report their experiences
Maria Julia Assis, a 28-year-old Brazilian barista who lives in North London, experienced the shock firsthand when her 6-year-old son came across one of these ads while playing a game. mobile game.
The video showed Hamas militants, terrified Israeli families and blurred images, with a written message from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs that said:
“We will ensure that those who harm us pay a heavy price.”
Faced with the situation, Maria quickly removed the game, as her son was shaking and questioned the disturbing content.
She recalled that the scared boy asked about the ad and how it could have appeared on his screen.
In turn, the international news agency Reuters identified at least six cases across the Europe in which the same pro-Israel video was shown to players in multiple games, including children.
In one case, the ad appeared in the popular game “Angry Birds”, developed by Rovio, a subsidiary of SEGA.
Rovio promptly acknowledged the issue, with its spokesperson, Lotta Backlund, stating:
“Somehow these ads with disturbing content made their way into our game, but they are already being blocked manually.”
David Saranga, head of digital at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, confirmed that the video is part of a government-sponsored advertising campaign. Still, he claimed to have no knowledge of how this ended up circulating in several games.
Saranga explained that the announcement is part of a larger campaign, initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israelwith a budget of $1.5 million for online ads.
This campaign began after Hamas’ attack on civilians in southern Israel on October 7, which triggered the conflict in Gaza.
According to Saranga, advertisers were explicitly instructed to “block the service for users under 18 years of age.”
He also defended the sensitive nature of the advertising campaign, stating that the objective is to make the world understand that what happened in Israel was a massacre.
Despite these occurrences, the Reuters found no evidence of a similar propaganda effort on the Palestinian side, other than some Arabic-language videos broadcast by Palestine TV, a news agency affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.
In the cases documented by Reuters, individuals in the United Kingdom, FranceAustria, Germany and the Netherlands found advertisements identical or similar to those that bothered Maria Júlia’s son.
Notably, the game that contained the ad in Maria Júlia’s case was “Alice’s Mergeland,” developed by a company called LazyDog Game.
Other “family” games that displayed these ads included “Stack”, “Balls’n Ropes”, “Solitaire: Card Game 2023” and “Subway Surfers”.
The emergence of these controversial ads in children’s games raises questions about the limits of advertising and its impact on young, impressionable minds.
In short, this situation also highlights the challenges of regulating and monitoring content in the digital age, in which unexpected materials can infiltrate the most unlikely places.
