Hasta La Creative!

It used to be that music video premieres from popular artists were a highly anticipated event. You know, back when MTV actually showed music videos, and before songs were streaming the second they were released. Now they’re advertisement fodder, as evidenced by Eminem’s new music video that doubles as a Call of Duty: Ghosts spot. Since August’s Call of Duty: Ghosts’ trailer featured Eminem‘s single “Survival” in the background, Slim Shady’s new single “Survival” features Call of Duty: Ghosts in the background. Tit for tat if you will.

The latest in the partnership between Activision, 72andSunny, and Eminem features projected footage from the game in the background as Eminem does his thing, in a (kind of) new song about surviving adversity. “This is survival of the fittest,” goes the songs’ chorus, doubling as a tag line for the aforementioned game, in which “the fittest” is some acne-scarred high school freshman who spends all his free time playing first person shooters while downing Doritos and energy drinks. There’s obviously some audience overlap between the popular shooter and the hip-hop vet, and this partnership takes advantage of that.

Since the launch of the new Call of Duty game is, arguably, more hotly anticipated than a new Eminem video, you may wonder why the game is featured so much in the background, but whatever the case, this is Eminem’s show. You could argue that he’s using the association with the game to sell his music at least as much as he’s helping to sell the game, so it works out pretty well for all parties involved. It’s really easy to overlook the COD footage unspooling in the background, especially since (if I’m not mistaken) the title of is never mentioned. But then that game’s fanboys will undoubtedly have remembered the song from the Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer, which may be why they’re watching the video in the first place. And anyone who can’t tell what the game in the background is probably isn’t buying the new Call of Duty in the first place.

The mix of violent gaming and explicit rapping should anger a few parents, so this video/spot has that going for it… Credits after the jump.

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