2K Sports has Serena Williams as one of the stars on the cover of its latest tennis game for the Nintendo Wii called Top Spin 4. They probably thought that using Serena Williams and her good looks in a TV commercial to sell the game would be a good idea. However, they may have gotten a little more than they bargained for, as 2K Sports ended up rejecting the ad for being too sexy.
It seems clear that although the game itself is rated "E" for everyone, the ad for the game is most definitely not. I certainly wouldn't consider this ad appropriate for my kids. Thumbs up to 2K Sports for rejecting the ad.
I've never heard of Rileah Vanderbilt before (in the commercial she looks like a Katy Perry clone), which is probably why she's doing this commercial. She obviously couldn't wait for the publicity so she went ahead and uploaded the commercial to Youtube and tweeted a link to it. That may not have been the smartest move to make:
As for Serena Williams, it seems she may already be acknowledging that this was a mistake:
Serena Williams' Top Spin 4 Wii game commercial deemed too sexy for TV [NY Daily News]
In a commercial lasting less than 60 seconds, [Serena] Williams – clad in a black leotard and stockings – is deemed "the world's sexiest tennis player" before she faces off against actress Rileah Vanderbilt, who is dressed in a similarly revealing outfit and called "the world's sexiest tennis gamer."
The video is cut with clips from the actual game, as if the two women were playing each other. But combined with grunting sounds that are more commonly heard in the bedroom than on the tennis court, the hotness factor goes up several levels.
"You realize this is a fantasy right?" Williams says at the end.Those of you at home can judge for yourself with the video here. (Note that the link may break from time to time once a copy of the commercial gets removed from Youtube, but we try and find a new one to get it working again).
It seems clear that although the game itself is rated "E" for everyone, the ad for the game is most definitely not. I certainly wouldn't consider this ad appropriate for my kids. Thumbs up to 2K Sports for rejecting the ad.
I've never heard of Rileah Vanderbilt before (in the commercial she looks like a Katy Perry clone), which is probably why she's doing this commercial. She obviously couldn't wait for the publicity so she went ahead and uploaded the commercial to Youtube and tweeted a link to it. That may not have been the smartest move to make:
"As part of the process for creating marketing campaigns to support our titles, we pursue a variety of creative avenues," 2K Sports said in a statement. "This video is not part of the title's final marketing campaign and its distribution was unauthorized."So it looks like Rileah Vanderbilt may be facing some legal issues in the near future.
As for Serena Williams, it seems she may already be acknowledging that this was a mistake:
On Monday, Williams herself told her fans to "Stay tuned for a awesomely sexy video I am tweeting later," but, interestingly enough, she hasn't mentioned it since then.Serena may want to have a discussion with her publicist. There's a time and place to promote the "sexy" image, but this certainly wasn't one of them.
Serena Williams' Top Spin 4 Wii game commercial deemed too sexy for TV [NY Daily News]
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
