There has been much debate in recent weeks on gender and its place within the industry. The issues at hand were brought to the fore very recently by the up-coming Tomb Raider: Underworld and the use of model Alison Carroll as the real-life incarnation of the game’s protagonist in its promotion and marketing.

Pandemic Studio’s  Mercenaries 2  recently found itself making the news with a great petrol give-away in north London. Representatives from the game’s publisher EA commandeered a petrol station and began to give away £40 worth of free petrol to each customer who rolled into the forecourt.

 The relationship between art and advertising is a fickle, endlessly complex and emotive one. While many would cry “L'art pour l'art!” and curse advertisers as corporate vultures the fact remains that while art may justify itself it cannot fund itself, which means somebody else has to.

If one follows the mantra that all members of an organisation are to some degree marketers, then few have as much responsibility for the brand image weighted on their shoulders as customer services.

 Followers of the viral video scene over the past couple of weeks will have no doubt stumbled across rapper Bow-Wow challenging musical rival The Game to a friendly match of Madden 09 with the loser donating $100,000 to the charity of the winners’ choice.