FarmVille boycott: Fan blog urges farmers to snub ad-sponsored peanut crops

FarmVille will be releasing its first ad-sponsored crop -- Peanuts -- next week, as we reported previously, and this has apparently struck a wrong chord with certain farmers. Before these peanuts have even made an appearance in the game, The Holly Tree fan blog has started urging farmers to boycott them, as a way to dissuade Zynga from using this type of advertising in the future. in protest of the actual advertiser.

"Spread the word if you are a Farmville player and do NOT buy these "peanuts". This is the first brand advertising that Zynga's Farmville has chosen to align itself with. There are 82 million players worldwide. Farmville makes $$$$ off the players buying seeds and whatever else this game has you do. You stop playing and spread the word, it will send the message to Farmville."

While Holly Tree wants players to make a political statement, we could see making a case for protesting the fact that advertising is starting to invade a previously (and gloriously) sponsor-free experience. So far, ad integration in Facebook games has been minimal, though we spotted a few sponsored items in Zoo World for the new Kirstie Alley TV show Big Life, and Bejeweled Blitz had a big ad/giveaway campaign with Mazda a few weeks ago as well. If this peanuts promotion performs well for Zynga, we can probably expect to see a lot more of this type of advertising in our favorite Facebook games in the not-so-distant future.