ELSPA calls urgent meeting with Government over Change4Life

ELSPA has attended an ‘urgent meeting’ with the Department Of Heath after the Government’s controversial Change4Life ad campaign linked

video games to premature death

.

The ads have become a hot topic of debate amongst the industry this morning.

The new print promotion – supported by The British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and Cancer Research – has appeared in women’s lifestyle press, shows a boy holding a PS3 pad under the text: ‘Risk an early DEATH; Just do nothing.’

Responding to the ad, ELSPA director general Michael Rawlinson told MCV:

When we became aware of the adverts we were surprised as they contradicted much of the discussion that we had enjoyed with the Department of Health. We immediately called for an urgent meeting with its officials responsible for Change4Life.

Following that meeting we have been informed that the ads are the responsibility of the NGOs listed. We are now taking the matter up with these organisations and informing them of the responsible position taken by the industry as demonstrated on our Ask About Games website.”