Fans call esports org ad with Eva Elfie “misogynistic”
Aurora GamingAurora Gaming, a Serbian esports organization, has been called out for its partnership and ad campaign on social media with adult film star Yulia ‘Eva Elfie’ Romanova.
Aurora Gaming has been called out for its “misogynistic” ad campaign and partnership with Russian adult film star Eva Elfie. The actress has been involved with esports before, she infamously asked esports pros whether they would rather give up their game of choice, or sex. She has also been a vocal supporter of NAVI and other Eastern European esports organizations and has even appeared at big tournaments to cheer on her favorite teams.
However, her new collaboration with Aurora has not been a hit with fans as many are either shocked at the collaboration or angry that the organization is leaning into misogynistic rhetoric in its advertisements.
The campaign started with a post about Elfie choosing between the Aurora Counter-Strike 2 lineup and included a follow-up video of the actress walking into a bar and choosing one of the players to walk out with.
“Which MAN decided this was a good marketing campaign? And people wonder why esports has the ridiculously misogynistic reputation it does…,” one social media user said.
“This is disgusting marketing,” another user said.
The campaign seems to be a crossover campaign between one of Aurora’s and Elfie’s main sponsors, 1xBet, a controversial betting company.
Esports org ad with Eva Elfie hit with criticism
Aurora’s other post also includes a link to a raffle where people can win a meeting with the actress. The campaign is to advertise Elfie’s game, Evaginarium, which involves sexual interactive scenarios with the actress.
One of Aurora’s Counter-Strike players can be seen playing the game in the video advertisement.
The marketing seems to be a bizarre choice for a small esports organization that only has a presence in Counter-Strike and Apex Legends esports, and many fans seem off-put by the campaign.