Advertising products on Club Penguin has not set right with some fans of the site. However, I don't think they're horrible.
History of Advertising on Club Penguin:
When the Marvel Superhero Takeover was announced early last year, penguins were shocked. An advertising party was unheard of up until this point. Because of its promotional nature many penguins disliked it. It was followed with the Ultimate Jam: Make Your Mark party which promoted the Disney Channel Show "Shake it Up" and was disliked by many once again for the tie in part of it. Then there was the Adventure Party: Temple of Fruit and the subsequent release of Smoothie Smash, which was bashed by some for its ties to Innocent Smoothies. Even this month's Hollywood Party could be marked as indirect advertising by theorists. It was created to line up with the Oscars which are hosted on ABC in the United States. ABC in turn, is owned by the Walt Disney Company, the proprietor of Club Penguin. While I don't believe the Hollywood outing was made to advertise, it is a good point to bring up all the same.
Why These Aren't Bad:
Personally, I haven't minded these things. One thing to keep in mind is it could be much more direct. I believe Club Penguin has done a good job at not stuffing it down our throats. For Example look at the small amount of ties between products and their respective parties -
Marvel Superhero Takeover - The only things associated with the superhero giant is the name and some of the costumes.
Ultimate Jam: Make Your Mark - CeCe and Rocky were the only things tied to "Shake it Up". The name referred to a contest revolving around the show.
Adventure Party: Temple of Fruit/Smoothie Smash: Aside from promotional things, nothing at the party revolved around Innocent, besides an indirect nod to it in Rockhopper's background for the event. Smoothie Smash features recipes to make Innocent products, but that's the furthest extent of advertising in it.
As you can see it's not as though the whole party revolves around their products. The rooms at the Marvel party didn't relate to their products fully - that was all original from Club Penguin. There weren't signs that told you to watch "Shake it Up" at a certain time everyday on Disney Channel - it was all subtle as well. And the Innocent Smoothies logo isn't attached to the Smoothie Smash game, nor were there any "Buy, Buy, Buy" signs at the most recent Adventure Party - it was all very subdued. All these things were made up of original Club Penguin ideas that weren't influenced by outside companies.
Also, it's good to see that companies trust Club Penguin and want to be featured on the site. Furthermore, if these companies feature Club Penguin on their things, it could also help the virtual world's popularity. On top of that, Disney must be pretty happy at the extra profitability of Club Penguin. These are all very good things.
As Billybob would say - - > Waddle on!
- Chillin43
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