Going Ape with Pringles and King Kong

I wanted to play an advergame that is designed to promote a movie. While reading this article on The Hollywood Reporter I found just what I was looking for. King Kong Jump was released to promote the 2005 feature film, King Kong. The game not only promotes the movie but it also promotes Pringles. Players must jump over cans of Pringles that are being rolled at them by King Kong himself. Not surprisingly, the objective of the game is to save the girl who has been captured by Mr. Kong.


The released of the game seemed to strategic to the release of the movie. The game was released in November of 2005 right when all the previews and other promotion for the Movie has becoming heavy. The movie was released one month later in December. Players can also access the King Kong movie trailer form the King Kong Jump website adding more to the synergy between the game and the movie. Players also have the option of sending the game to their friends to help the game become virally marketed. As a gamer and a marketer, I could appreciate how Pringles interacted with the game but didn't let it over power the game main purpose.

There were a few things in the game that I thought could have been done better. First, the character of King Kong could have been much more involved in the game. In the game all he really does is stand in the background and hit his chest. One suggestion I have for the game creators is to actually show Kong rolling the cans of Pringles at the player. It would have given the game more of a man-versus-ape feel while still not over powering the game with Pringles advertising. Further more, the game could have made characters in the game reflect characters in the movie a little better. For instance, we can see the girl the King Kong has kidnapped in the game however we cannot see if it is clearly the Ann Darrow character played by Naomi Watts. Personally I would be much more motivated to play the game if I new I would be saving Ms. Watts. The same goes for the "hero" the gamers play as in the game. Why not have us play as characters from the movie like Adrien Brody's character Jack Driscoll or Jack Black's character Carl Denham?