Veterans Day Thoughts on Call of Duty’s “Epic Night Out” Commercial

Veterans Day means a lot in my family. My dad was severely disabled in combat, and his injuries were a defining piece of his life for more than 50 years until his death a few years ago. His experiences, and mine as his youngest son, have come to shape my view of pretty much everything that matters, in ways that only deepen and become more clear as I get older. So when I see a recent Call of Duty: Ghosts commercial, tellingly called “Epic Night Out,” and want to throw something at my TV to silence the detestable piece of crap, that’s why. It’s because of my dad and the countless American men and women just like him who have sacrificed more than I can ever imagine in service of something greater than themselves. It’s also why I feel compelled to write a little bit about it today, on this most solemn of days. If you haven’t already seen “Epic Night Out,” take a look and let me know what you think. I’d be especially interested to hear from any veterans in the comments section. http://youtu.be/MNxh7umVOZ0 Just to be clear, this is no kind of analysis of Call of Duty’s quality as a game, and certainly not a negative comment against anyone who likes to play it. Whatever form of entertainment you need to relax and get through the day, I say go for it. If my interest in spending money on video games didn’t peak with Galaga in the mid-1980s, or maybe Tommy Lasorda Baseball on the Sega Genesis in 1991, I’d probably enjoy playing Call of Duty too. So, nothing against the game or its players. I’m talking only about three elements of the commercial and how they trivialize combat and the people who serve in it. First, the commercial’s glamorous, Vegas-style setting makes war seem like The Hangover with a few more guns. Or Scarface with the same amount of guns. Or an especially violent, big-budget Puff Daddy video from back when Puff Daddy made music that people cared about. Or take your pick of any other juvenile fantasy media product. But war is not a juvenile fantasy, and it’s usually not fought by juveniles (when it is, it becomes even more tragic). War is fought by real men and women with courage and dignity. Yes, soldiers and veterans often point to things like camaraderie and adventure when asked why they enlisted, and the commercial’s ridiculous fantasy certainly captures those things. But what’s missing from, and in fact undermined by, “Epic Night Out” are more essential motivators of military service – public service, patriotism, and…let’s look to the game’s title itself…duty. Second, the bit with Megan Fox adds a sexual component to the combat fantasy that feels out of place at best, grossly insensitive at worst. Readily available statistics, legislative debates, and news reports indicate that sexual assault and harassment are rampant in the military, and sadly they are only now receiving any kind of institutional attention or deterrent efforts. In other words, far too many women in the military not only face threats from enemies, but also must fend off other kinds of threats from their purported brothers in arms. The commercial forces a woman soldier to do just that in a firefight, and it does so only for the purpose of putting Megan Fox on screen. I realize that objecting to this opens me up to the charge of being way too uptight, and I do like looking at Megan Fox just as much as the next guy does, but glossing over a dark, harmful component of military culture, one that so many citizens are striving to address and correct, seems too high a price to pay for the mere addition of a joke and a pretty face. And finally, there’s the piece of the commercial that disappoints me the most – that damn song. Frank Sinatra’s “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die” was obviously chosen to serve as a fun thematic commentary on the visuals and to evoke the Vegas setting even more fully. But the commercial is far too glib about attaching that lyrical sentiment – embrace every moment right up until the last one – to combat, where the prospect of death is an ever-present, malevolent force that hangs like a storm cloud over every man and woman. Living moment-to-moment isn’t a choice for a soldier in combat, and many veterans pay a high price (physical wounds, post-traumatic stress disorder, addictions, shattering stress on their families, etc.) for the rest of their lives after living with death so closely at hand during their time in combat. I’ve seen it myself. I’ve lived it myself. It just isn’t a joking matter for me. Again, maybe I’m too uptight about this issue, but I’d like to think it’s not without reason, according to what I’ve said above. Above all, I believe that veterans have earned the right not to see their service belittled and caricatured as a mere “epic night out” for a quartet of bros. And certainly not for the sake of selling a video game.