Intel has issued a statement regarding pulling their ads from Gamasutra to clarify a few simple things. Like, pulling ads does not mean they're "bowing down to a movement that’s trying to keep women out of technology" as bloggers are painting it as.

We take feedback from customers seriously.



For the time being, Intel has decided not to continue with our current ad campaign on the gaming site Gamasutra.

However, we recognize that our action inadvertently created a perception that we are somehow taking sides in an increasingly bitter debate in the gaming community. That was not our intent, and that is not the case. When it comes to our support of equality and women, we want to be very clear: Intel believes men and women should be treated the same. And, diversity is an integral part of our corporate strategy and vision with commitments to improve the diversity of our workforce. And while we respect the right of individuals to have their personal beliefs and values, Intel does not support any organization or movement that discriminates against women. We apologize and we are deeply sorry if we offended anyone.

Like Intel, I believe men and women should be treated the same as well. Intel aren't keeping women out of tech either, since the President of Intel Corporation is Renée J. James, and she's also part of the company's Executive Office, so they're walking the walk too. I still believe that insulting consumers shrinks the market, and when I reported that Intel pulled ads from Gamasutra it received 70+ comments so by now, dear adgrunt, you've been warned. If you're working on a gamer-client and haven't heard about this yet, you suck at your job.

That so many blogs and semi-journalists are currently quite busy painting Intel's advertising decision as an intentional alignment with a "misogynistic movement" demonstrates quite well how, as I've said before, feeding junk into the megaphone creates a feedback loop that amplifies as we go round and round. Right now, hundreds of bloggers and semi-journalists are publishing posts with warped headlines lie "Intel apologises for pulling ads from Gamasutra", an apology that doesn't exist in Intel's statement above.

As demonstrated earlier when Gavin McInnes was fired, the new game online is to rally around boycotts. Unlike the one million moms campaign that never seem to have any effect, or the weird uptick of Chick-fil-A sales when they were universally hated in the press, this current outrage issue seems to be engaging plenty of people on both sides of the current divide. I've told you adgrunts working on Activision, Playstation, EA and everyone else before that you need to pay attention, hit the war room or whatever you call your conference/ping-pong table and start working on a strategy. How can you step away from this mess and attempt disassociate from it, if blogs then say you're aligned with sexism for doing so? Get that guy in media to tell you exactly where your online ads are showing right now. You need to have a plan.

Update: Monday 6 Oct 14:58 -Have been hit hard by publications slamming them for pulling ads, for example The Verge wrote: "Intel buckles to anti-feminist campaign by pulling ads from gaming site" , and then "Intel issues apology after backlash from #GamerGate opponents" . Vox media includes both Verge and Polygon . Vox Media Kit shows successful campaigns at the bottom , the first example being their #lookinside campaign for Intel . Polygon is one of the gaming sites affected by this consumer boycott.RELATED: Insulting consumers shrinks the market.