Is 'Modern Warfare 3' Encouraging an Unhealthy Lifestyle?

It's bad enough you've gotta be sitting down to play video games (well, most of them) and the lack of exercise sometimes associated with gaming has already caused plenty of concern for health-conscious parents. However, a new promotion for "Modern Warfare 3," the upcoming sequel to the best-selling first-person shooter, could add to the problem.

Pepsi has teamed up with Activision, the game's publisher, to offer "Modern Warfare 3" players double XP (experience points, normally used to gauge how "experienced" a player is at the game) if they purchase certain brands of soda and chips, which will come with special one-time use codes that can be entered into the game.

The promotion is called Rank Up XP.



For instance, if you buy a 12-pack of Mountain Dew, you can get 45 minutes worth of double XP. Combine that with a code from a bag of Doritos and you can score an additional 15 minutes of double XP.

Forbes contributor Paul Tassi accuses the promotion of "stepping over the line." He argues, "I’m going to choose to ignore the whole childhood obesity epidemic factors that accompany such an ad campaign, but it’s worth noting that kids are now being bribed with more XP (in a game that keeps them sedentary for long hours) to get them to buy completely unhealthy junk food."

Activision has not responded to criticisms yet, but "Modern Warfare 3" doesn't even come out until November 8, so they've got a few weeks to sort things out if they choose to.