A spokesman for Eidos said it was an oversight on its part that this message was issued. "We are implementing new guidelines internally and externally to prevent this situation happening again. We would like to apologise for the distress that this has caused."
The text message read, "Please report to your local army recruitment centre immediately for your second tour of duty. Commandos 2 on PC, it's more real than life -- out today from Eidos."
The complaint was registered by an ex-member of the British Army who felt that the message could cause undue fear and distress. Eidos was pulled up by the Advertising Standards Authority, which said the campaign was likely to cause distress. The ASA concluded that the message was unsuitable and could at first glance cause upset.
The Eidos spokesman added, "The SMS message was designed as a Second World War call-out to new recruits advertising the availability of the Commandos 2 computer game. Unfortunately the text message was written many weeks before the horrific events of September 11."
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