The U.S. government, and more specifically, the Department of Homeland Security, has come under criticism of late in the video game community for using video game IPs in their marketing campaigns in a way to encourge people to join them in their fight. It started last month with the use of the Pokemon animated series and once again earlier this month when they responded to GameStop “official” statement announcing the end of the console wars with Halo: Campaign Evolved, the Halo 1 remake going to PlayStation. The White House posted several AI images with Donald Trump as Master Chief and the DHS released their own with message that reads “destroy the flood.” Now, after several former Halo devs weighed in on the social media posts, the DHS has issued a statement.
Marty O’Donnell, former Halo composer, praised the ad, saying he would “work with the Trump administration to destroy the Flood once and for all!” O’Donnell is running as a Republician for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional seat next year. He finished in fourth place in the Republican primary last year.
While O’Donnell is a fan of the ad, Master Chief Lead Designer Marus Lehto and one of the Chief Designers, Jaime Griesemer, did not.
Speaking to Game File, Lehto said that he found the DHS/ICE post “absolutely abhorrent.”
“It really makes me sick seeing Halo co-opted like this.”
Griesemer was hot and cold on the ads. He found the Trump-as-Master-Chief post funny. ““Halo is a cultural icon and like anything with cultural capital, it is going to be used by politicians and brands and anyone else looking for relevancy,” he said.
However, Griesemer is not a fan of the ICE ad.
“Using Halo imagery in a call to ‘destroy’ people because of their immigration status goes way too far, and ought to offend every Halo fan, regardless of political orientation,” Griesemer said. “I personally find it despicable. The Flood are evil space zombie parasites and are not an allegory to any group of people.“
The Department of Homeland Security shared a statement with journalist Alyssa Mercante saying there are no plans to slow down with using anything people can relate to.
“We will reach people where they are with content they can relate to and understand, whether that be Halo, Pokémon, Lord of the Rings or any other medium,” the statement reads. “DHS remains laser focused on bringing awareness to the flood of crime that criminal illegal aliens have inflicted on our country. We aren’t slowing down.”
Microsoft has yet to make a comment but is a prominent donor to the Trump administration and has numerous government contracts.