Back in 2009 a series of ads began to make their way across the Internet advertising something called "Evony". Evony is an online video game where you are placed in charge of a medieval village and are tasked with building it into a robust community that can then wage war on other players' towns. But Evony's reputation is not for its gameplay, but rather its advertisements, which are among the most ridiculous attempts to get people (specifically men) to click an ad that I have ever seen.
Evony's ads were originally fairly up-front, depicting a medieval landscape and a knight in armor. The implications were clear - Evony was a medieval fantasy game appealing to people who like that sort of setting. But then, things got strange. Evony's next advertisements featured a girl in medieval dress with the message "Save the Queen!". As it turns out, "the Queen" was wearing a fairly revealing dress. From this point on the ads began sliding into increasingly false and tasteless territory, depicting women that were more and more scantily clad and eventually ditching the medieval theme altogether. Most of the later ads come off as being for a dating site, and certainly not a strategy game. A common phrase (and one the Internet mocked mercilessly) was "Play now, My Lord", which appeared on many of the ads. Further adding to the saucy implications of the ads is the claim that you can "play discreetly". The ads reached their nadir with a banner that consisted of nothing but a closeup of a woman's breasts, covered only by lingerie. It's one of the most ridiculous cases of false advertising I've ever seen, and the resulting widespread mockery they received in the gaming community was fully deserved.
Oh, and to add insult to injury? If you actually play Evony, your computer gets tracked and spied on. Lovely.
Here's a link to a progression of Evony's ads. (contains scantily clad women - think magazine covers)
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/a-history-of-evony-ads-the-insanity-continues/
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