Friday, 09 July 2010

• Farmville in Real Life

  
  Facebook has grown to be one of the greatest internet stalking tools. But in between the tagging of embarrassing drunk photos and incessant checking of news feeds regarding the whereabouts of your ex-girlfriend, 80 million of you are playing Farmville. With the addition of the Farmville app for both the iPad and the iPhone 4, Farmville can be played virtually anywhere. But the pixelated crops and foods simply aren't enough for some people. 
  
   

   

  7-Eleven has teamed up with the makers of Farmville by selling real-life Farmville groceries in select locations. This is not the first time 7-Eleven tried to transport its customers to a fantastical world during a mundane trip to buy some microwave burritos and icees. A couple of years ago, in preparation for the release of The Simpsons Movie, 7-Eleven was transformed into the iconic Kwik-E-Mart and sold Homer Simpson's favorite pink doughnuts and Buzz Cola. In many ways, the Farmville groceries are a part of a genius promotion in that there is a real brand reinforcement in our everyday lives. Farmville is no longer just something you play around on while procrastinating at work, it's a physical product that has made its way into your offline world.

  Of course, that is the very reason why the Farmville groceries are disturbing at the same time. Do we really need Facebook applications and grocery shopping to intertwine so seamlessly? It's understandable that there's a need for escapism but have we gone too far? Tetris never created furniture that we could stack (although I would totally buy that if they did). It's also interesting to note that for a game that has grown so popular on a such a technologically advanced platform, its object is rather simple (collect crops and buy livestock).

  Will you be buying Farmville groceries? Is it better than spending money on pixelated corn and pigs?

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