Kotaku: cta

GTA IV Bus Ads To Terrorize Chicago Riders Once Again

Michael McWhertor — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:30:00 MST

Billboard advertising for Grand Theft Auto IV will return to Chicago buses and bus stations for six weeks as part of a settlement with the Chicago Transit Authority. Rockstar Games parent Take-Two Interactive sued Chicago's public transportation body in May after the GTA IV ads were pulled following a Fox News report.

Take-Two had invested some $300,000 in advertising for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game prior to its release. With the holiday season upon us and the release of the PC version imminent, now's not such a bad time to get Niko Bellic's face out there.

According to the report from Chicago Breaking News, the CTA voted to ban M-rated video game ads on its buses and stations, ensuring that this sort of marketing nightmare never happens again.

'Grand Theft Auto' ads return to CTA [Chicago Breaking News] [Image]

Take-Two: CTA Won't Talk GTA

Leigh Alexander — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:00:00 MDT

"We can confirm that Take-Two Interactive has filed suit against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)," a Take-Two spokesman said this morning. "Although we prefer to resolve these issues amicably, the CTA has refused to discuss with us its outrageous decision to pull advertising for the critically acclaimed game Grand Theft Auto IV while running ads for other forms of popular entertainment with similar content, including mature-themed TV shows and R-rated movies."

As reported last night, Take-Two's suing the Chicago Transit Authority and its ad agent, Titan Outdoor, for $300,000, in addition to insisting they run the ads. The ads were pulled just prior to GTA IV's release date after a Fox News report suggested a link between the game ads and violence in Chicago.

Why was GTA IV's advertising handled differently, as Take-Two claims, from the ads for other mature entertainment, like R-rated films and adult TV? And what role did the Fox News broadcast play in the decision?

A spokesperson for the CTA said it would need more time before it's able to answer these questions. "As of last night we had not received a copy of the suit you're asking about," said communications VP Noelle Gaffney. "Until our lawyers receive it and have an opportunity to review it, we won't have any comment."

Rockstar did not address requests for comment.

Chicago Transit Authority Pulls GTA IV Ads Following Fox Affiliate Reporting

Mark Wilson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:20:00 MDT

Last weekend, Chicago saw quite a bit of violence. At the moment, CBS is reporting a total of "37 Shot, 2 Stabbed, 7 Dead," while pointing out that 13 of the victims were Chicago Public School students. Fox News Chicago noticed—in a moment of divine correlation—that Grand Theft Auto advertisements appear on CTA buses and train stations.

The remainder of Fox's report becomes muddled. In the intro, we cannot tell if they are blaming the shootings on the ads or just claiming that the ads are in poor taste. (They never, in fact, mention when the ads actually went up.) We'd say Fox buried the lead, but we're not so certain there was any lead to bury.

The piece continues grasping for a story, this time through the political hypocrisy of IL governor Rod Blagojevich, who had once spoken against Grand Theft Auto San Andreas advertisements publicly. And then, to demonstrate how we should/could feel about this story (other than confusion?), the viewer is treated to a series of man on the street interviews. Finally, we find that CTA has made no comment on the situation but will be pulling the ads (we can assume only because Fox was doing the story).

After viewing the clip, we realized that the headline above the video is simply "Violent Video Game Ads on The CTA." But that headline, while appearing innocuous at first glance, is as intentionally misleading as Fox's video. Is Fox calling the "video game" itself violent or the "video game ads" violent? You can't tell...which seems to be precisely the point.

We'd say to check out the video for yourself, but we'd hate to see Fox News Chicago make the ad revenue. Crecente had an interesting feature a while back on a similar GTA ad controversy if you feel the need to click something.

Violent Video Game Ads on The CTA [Fox via GamePolitics]