What game saw sales jump in the ‘80s when it created a moral panic?
The best way to make kids interested in something is to make it sound dangerous.
We’ve seen this time and time again, from music to movies to toys and beyond. We even have a name for it: the Streisand effect, named for the time a lawyer for Barbara Streisand tried to suppress a photograph of her house from getting out — and in the process drawing way more attention to it than it ever would have received.
And the number one source of the Streisand effect? Panicked parents. It doesn’t take much to spook them, and things haven’t changed with the internet era (anyone remember the Momo Challenge hoax?). Back in the ‘80s, parents would get in an outrage about any new thing that came out while simultaneously smoking at the airport after having driven around with no seatbelt on.
One game in particular really caused a stir, but in the end the fervor only served to boost sales. Which game was it?
