Boycott Farmville

How many of you out there play the Facebook game Farmville?

Here's news. If you are a supporter of BDS (the Palestinian Global Call to boycott, divest and sanction Israel) you should boycott this game as well.

I got the info when I stumbled upon THIS article, "Farmville Could Cash in on Branded Crops"

Then, searching................

Next week, FarmVille players will have the ability to grow peanuts, thanks to ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi and an Israeli candy brand.

We’re told this is the first time a FarmVille crop has been directly linked to a brand. Saatchi Interactive in Tel Aviv is working on a rollout campaign for Elite Taami Nutz, a peanut-filled variant of a popular Israeli chocolate bar.

So what else is Saatchi and Saachi up to these days?

"When the word 'Israel' is said outside its borders, we want it to invoke not fighting or soldiers, but a place that is desirable to visit and invest in, a place that preserves democratic ideals while struggling to exist," said Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, during a September 2006 meeting with "public relations executives, branding specialists and diplomats" in Tel Aviv. Livni "recently put the image initiative on the government's agenda and will soon develop a budget for the program," according to the Israeli Consulate in New York's media and public affairs consul. "A staffer with the London-based global ad firm Saatchi and Saatchi is already working with the Israelis free of charge on the re-branding effort," the Washington Times reported.

Read more about "Brand Israel" HERE

Spread the word if you are a Farmville player and do NOT buy these "peanuts". This is the first brand advertising that Zynga's Farmville has chosen to align itself with. There are 82 million players worldwide. Farmville makes $$$$ off the players buying seeds and whatever else this game has you do. You stop playing and spread the word, it will send the message to Farmville.

UPDATE: The website Games.com has picked up this post. Written there:

So far, ad integration in Facebook games has been minimal, though we spotted a few sponsored items in Zoo World for the new Kirstie Alley TV show Big Life, and Bejeweled Blitz had a big ad/giveaway campaign with Mazda a few weeks ago as well. Holly Tree does make a compelling point -- if this peanuts promotion performs well for Zynga, we can probably expect to see a lot more of this type of advertising in our favorite Facebook games in the not-so-distant future.

Games.com, let me clarify something for you. I couldn't care less if Farmville or other games start incorporating ad sponsored products. They are a business at the end of the day in case players who are addicted to this game are unaware.

It is the PRODUCT and who is behind this, Saatchi and Saachi, which provides free advertising services for the aparthed state of Israel (Brand Israel) which are the reasons I am calling on players to boycott. Making moral choices when spending your money, non-violently resisting apartheid by boycotting products, and in this case, Farmville, which has chosen to associate itself with Israel in it's FIRST ad-sponsored seed product.

Read the comments HERE

While Farmville is an online game, read about the real lives of Palestinian farmers HERE, HERE,

Watch this BBC report on what Jewish settlers are doing to Palestinian farmers