Sega Game Gear Tips Volume 2
From Sega Retro
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| Sega Game Gear Tips Volume 2 | ||||||||||
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| Format: VHS | ||||||||||
| Studio: St. Michel Productions | ||||||||||
| Publisher: Howard Johnson's | ||||||||||
| Running time: 13:21 | ||||||||||
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Sega Game Gear Tips Volume 2 is a promotional VHS produced by St. Michel Productions and published by Howard Johnson's for the Sega of America-sponsored American hotel promotion Kids Go HoJo with Sega. Containing both general gameplay tips for the campaign's available Sega Game Gear games, and an infamously-high energy and shockingly-adult advertisement where a hotel spokesperson repeatedly harasses a guests (played by Canadian actor Bob Brewster[2][3]) until he tries Sega's portable game system, the video has since become a small viral sensation and strongly-associated with the name Howard Johnson's.
Sega Game Gear Tips Volume 2 was preceded by Sega Game Gear Tips Volume 1, containing the same main advertisement but with a different selection of game tips.
Contents
Content
Produced in late 1994 and released in early 1995 as the second wave of the Kids Go HoJo with Sega advertising campaign, the videos mark a noted departure from the chain's previous advertising. Earlier commercials featured standard videography and editing, and were produced in a fairly normal style for the time. However, as Sega of America began to move towards more edge and attention-getting attitudes, many of its collaborations were influenced in a similar manner, and soon Howard Johnson's began to promote Kids Go HoJo with Sega in the same style of fast and flashy marketing.
While the tips sections of each tape are also fairly standard, they have been noted as being exceedingly obvious, to the point of becoming more instruction than hint. For example, one tip for Ecco: The Tides of Time reminds players that Ecco breathes air, and another for Taz in Escape From Mars instructs players how to open doors.
More infamous is the video's main advertisement, becoming a minor viral sensation for its over-the-top filmmaking style. Produced with a great deal of influence from Sega of America's attitude-filled marketing (particularly as the American marketing industry began migrating towards more high-energy youth advertising), the advertisement was created to be fast, flashy, and attention-getting, with quick cuts and a literal strobe light blinking intermittently in most scenes. Additionally, the premise was intentionally produced to feature the Howard Johnson's spokesperson repeatedly harassing and stalking a visibly-disturbed guest for the entirety of the advertisement, and at one point even gestures at beginning a sex scene between said guest and a hotel maid; concerningly adult for a product intended for young children.
Between its extended scenes of shakycam filmography, extreme close-ups, and manic editing style, the tone of Sega Game Gear Tips is notably demeaning to its target audience, then so misunderstood that marketers assumed the best way of advertising to the perceived short attention spans of young people was to fill their promotions with as many blinking lights and hyper-delivered marketing blurbs as possible.)
List of featured games
History
Available as a free rental to Howard Johnson's guests and their children, the tape was also available to purchase separately at a price of $3.99[1] (despite the front of the tape indicating a suggested $9.99 retail price.[4])
Legacy
As Howard Johnson's faded in popularity, so did its name. With the maturing of the internet and the establishment of websites like YouTube, the promotional advertisement soon became associated with the now lesser-known company, and frequently to such a degree that some are only familiar with the hotel chain through this single unflattering video.
Video
Physical scans
| VHS, US |
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    Cover
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 Cassette |
External links
- Howard Johnson’s Sega Game Tips article by Lydia Bugg at 1900HOTDOG
