Turtle Beach steps back from Mission: Iraq campaign

The Mission: Iraq documentary webisode campaign for Turtle Beach has been left alone by the headphone manufacturer.

The campaign drew some fire from vocal critics online who saw the use of a warzone in the context of marketing as inappropriate, and Turtle Beach has offered an apology and removed its brand association from the project.

The strategy was devised by New Zealand Turtle Beach distributor Fiveight, whose aim was to demonstrate the closeness of the headphone range to the real thing by sending a gamer to Turkey and filming him trying to cross over into Iraq, then running a series of webisodes.

The YouTube account hosting the webisodes has since been taken down. Turtle Beach's full statement read:

At Turtle Beach we pride ourselves on listening to our consumers and fans.  Every product innovation is inspired by your feedback and we are grateful for your support.  Our respect for our fans extends to our marketing efforts as well.  We understand some members of the community have concerns about the Kiwi Gamer Video Series.  The trailer and series was developed by our New Zealand distribution partner intended for use as a local market promotion. 

The journey of the main character and resolution of the story is quite the opposite of how it has been received.  The goal was to contrast the fantasy of combat video games with the reality; and ultimately celebrate the service of our heroes and the sacrifice of their families.  We are sorry if that message has not been clearly communicated.  Based on the feedback from our community we have decided to withdraw our association with this project.  Most importantly, we wish to apologize to anyone we may have inadvertently offended.

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