I found Tony’s post about Kobe Byrant being in the “Call Of Duty” commercial to be very interesting. The main controversy was about whether it is appropriate for him to appear in the commercial simulating shooting using an assault rifle. Some say that his participation in the commercial may have a negative impact on the attitudes of teen towards gun violence and that it may “downplays the seriousness that real combat entails”. Personally, I believe that the critics are overreacting to the commercial. First of all, the setting of the ad is in a worn-torn country and teens are simply not going to shoot people with assault rifles just because a basketball star is doing so. Besides, there are plenty of movies out there such as “Rambo” and the “Expendables” which arguably glorify gun violence; Speaking of which, a stuntman recently died from an explosion while filming a stunt sequence for the sequel to The Expendables (talk about seriousness of real combat). I doubt that the appearance of Kobe Byrant in the commercial would have any more effect than the other actors on teen’s attitude towards gun violence. I agree with Tony that we should give him a break.
Tony’s link https://blogs.ubc.ca/tonyliu/