As had originally been reported, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) had only briefly addressed their decision to pull ads from Gamasutra due to customer feedback regarding the publication’s editorial. Many publications have decided to pile on to the sensationalism of GamerGate and decided to claim that Intel is a misogynist company and that the company did this out of sexism. Even though, as stated before, the company employs a female President of the company and the head of the company’s desktop PC division is also a woman. At Intel, men and women are effectively equals and the idea of sex and sexism is almost a non-issue. Intel is without a doubt one of the most progressive companies as a whole in the tech industry and is one of the greenest if not the greenest tech companies in the US.

The backlash from this move has been vigorous and mostly unfounded, but Intel’s management appears to have decided to address the matter directly through a press release that they just sent out stating,

“We take feedback from customers seriously. For the time being, Intel has decided not to continue with our current ad campaign on the gaming site Gamasutra. However, we recognize that our action inadvertently created a perception that we are somehow taking sides in an increasingly bitter debate in the gaming community. That was not our intent, and that is not the case. When it comes to our support of equality and women, we want to be very clear: Intel believes men and women should be treated the same. And, diversity is an integral part of our corporate strategy and vision with commitments to improve the diversity of our workforce. And while we respect the right of individuals to have their personal beliefs and values, Intel does not support any organization or movement that discriminates against women. We apologize and we are deeply sorry if we offended anyone.

Clearly, GamerGate has expanded far beyond its origins and now even the tech companies are getting roped into it. But as it appears, Intel believes that they also need to apologize to those that believe that Intel did this out of sexism or misogyny, which is patently false. Even so, in today’s corporate culture companies are big and prominent as Intel are forced to try to appease both sides.

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Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) has recently become the topic of controversy when it decided to pull its advertisement campaign on popular gaming industry site Gamasutra.

The decision was largely influenced by the GamerGate movement’s daily e-mail boycotts, wherein users reach out to key advertisers and express their concerns over the content.

The community boycotted Gamasutra in response to the controversial “Gamers Are Over” editorial, which was largely seen as offensive and inflamed the cultural shift with its sensationalized content.

@BuckSexington Yes, our partners at @intel were flooded with complaints over a recent opinion piece, and they did pull an ad campaign.

— Gamasutra (@gamasutra) October 1, 2014

A high volume of e-mails were sent to Intel–one of the major advertisers for Gamasutra–regarding the offensive article. Users cited that they will no longer be visiting the website as a result of the content, and made their position clear.

As a result, Intel pulled their advertising campaign on the site, earning the ire and wrath of the other side of the gate.

After nixing its ad campaign, Intel was seen as an ally to the GamerGate initiative. This prompted a slew of backlash from apparent pro-feminist gamers who saw the hardware-maker as a pawn for “internet trolls”.

Users called Intel “misogynistic” for their decision, which kicked off a dedicated #misogynyinside hashtag. Some said that Intel “supported the harassment of women and journalists”.

Others said that by pulling ads on Gamasutra, the company “doesn’t support and opposes women making, playing or writing about games”.

Interestingly enough Intel has many female executives; Renee J. James serves as president of the company. These allegations seem to be a kneejerk reaction to the assumption that Leigh Alexander–the author of the controversial article–is being attacked, when in actuality it’s Gamasutra that’s being penalized

The hurling of very serious words like misogyny only serves to alienate the company even farther from the “Social Justice” crowd. Ironically these people are actually taking part in the behavior they find so abominable.

Assuming this logic, if Intel listens to its concerned community, then it must be completely involved with the “harassment” and “discrimination” attributed to the GamerGate movement.

But why did Intel pull the ads in the first place?

Intel has a massive stake in the PC gaming industry, and its processors power almost every enthusiast gaming rig in existence. So when gamers–one of its key constituencies–step forward to claim that a website that Intel advertises on has offended them, its to be taken seriously.

“Intel has pulled its advertising from website Gamasutra,” Intel spokesperson Bill Calder said. “

We take feedback from our customers very seriously especially as it relates to contextually relevant content and placements.”

Intel is keen on the growth of the enthusiast PC market as well as serving its customer base, not getting involved with a cultural shift. If anything, it wants gamers to thrive, not to “die”.

In any case, it will be interesting to see if the company will be further pressured by anti-GamerGate’rs and feminist gamers in the coming weeks. Many users are sending batches of e-mails and taking to Pastebin to voice their concerns on Intel’s decision.

In the meantime Gamasutra has lost a major advertiser, and the collective movement continues to gain momentum.

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