CBS Tells EA to Change Dante's Inferno Commercial

Kris Erickson • Feb 2, 2010 • Comments ()

As we reported earlier in the week, Electronic Arts is holding nothing back in its effort to advertise Dante's Inferno, the upcoming action video game for the Sony PSP, PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 systems. The publisher even purchased a coveted Super Bowl advertisement spot, rumored to sell somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 million USD. While those might be the most expensive 30 seconds to be had in television advertising, they are almost worth it when one considers all of the additional hype and rebroadcasting that inevitably follows the most creative or shocking Super Bowl commercials. And Electronic Arts is reportedly going for shock value, giving its advertisement the tagline: 'Go to Hell'.

That didn't sit well with broadcaster CBS, whose family-friendly image might be threatened by such an in-your-face campaign. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS asked EA to alter the advertisement and remove the tagline. The commercial will still be run during the final quarter of the match, but now with the alternative slogan, 'Hell Awaits'. There is no word on whether additional changes have been made to the imagery of the advertisement, which features main character Dante doing battle with demonic forces of the underworld.

You can check out the original version of the rejected ad below. Viewers will notice the tagline 'Go to Hell' as well as some seriously disturbing imagery that would not be suitable for small children.