With Grand Theft Auto IV right around the corner, leave it to Fox News to try and throw a spanner in the works. Using the recent focus on violence and of course, those precious children as its “in,” Fox News questioned the appearance of adverts for GTA IV on buses and trains in the city.
With so much focus on kids and violence these days, we wondered why ads for a violent video game have begun popping up again on CTA buses and train stations.
Yes … I’m sure you guys wondered, and I’m certain you were OH so concerned. Disappointingly, Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) boss Ron Huberman caved in and had the advertisements (which portrayed no violence and weren’t offensive in any way) from his buses.
Transport ads for GTA have upset certain citizens (people I commonly refer to as “pussies”) in Chicago in the past, as well as Boston, Denver and Portland, Oregon. In addition, I have written several times in the past how videogame ads have been banned by the ASA in London following a small number of complaints.
I think this is a pretty pathetic move on the part of the CTA, simply folding under the slightest bit of pressure and removing a very inoffensive advert. As GamePolitics asserts, it’s selective censorship, and it makes Ron Huber look like a rather weak, spineless individual. I’d be interested to see how many R-Rated movies he allows to be advertised though, so I can add “hypocrite” to the list of what Huber is.
Oh well — GTA IV is going to sell millions upon of millions of copies no matter how bus ads get pulled. The likes of Fox cannot keep the games industry down, no matter how many times it pathetically attempts to.
