An advertising poster is circulating on the Internet in which a blind musician talks about a game console from Atari. We have verified its authenticity.

In a poster circulated on the Internet, Stevie Wonder is holding a joystick from an Atari 2600 console, which the company released in 1977 and maintained it for 15 years. At the top of the poster, which for many in the 21st century looks at least provocative, is a quote from the musician: “If I could play video games, I would play on Atari.” The picture has gone viral: it can be found on numerous boards on Pinterest, in posts on Facebook, 9gag, Reddit and many other sites.

The year the Atari 2600 console was released, singer Steveland Morris, who performs under the pseudonym Stevie Wonder, was 27 years old. By that time he had already received 12 Grammy Awards and was incredibly popular. A serious illness did not prevent the musician from achieving such success - soon after birth he lost vision.

This tragic fact from the singer’s biography is played out several times in the inscriptions on the poster, which was allegedly released in 1981. In particular, it contains the phrases “My friends say this has the best graphics. I don't know what that means" and "Even Stevie has his own way with that joystick." The text ends with the message that “you don't need two to play the Atari 2600... or even two eyes. Stevie likes to play alone, even if he has no idea what's going on."

However, back in 2014, the originality of this advertising poster raised serious doubts. It turned out, that its author quite skillfully changed the original poster from the 1970s. It features Stevie Wonder promoting the Mu-Tron III, a device for creating musical effects. There are no provocative inscriptions on this poster, unlike the comic fake.