A complaint by Jack Thompson has prompted Miami's transit authority to remove ads for Grand Theft Auto IV from local bus shelters.
Miami thus joins Chicago as the second major US city to pull GTA IV ads from its public transit system in recent days.
GamePolitics reported on Thursday that Thompson had complained about the GTA IV ads to Miami Mayor Carlos Alvarez. The GTA IV ads were apparently removed sometime on Friday afternoon. Hugh Chen, Miami-Dade Transit's deputy director of operations, told GamePolitics on Friday evening, via e-mail:
The posters were removed after a review of our approval process and contract... Be assured that the circumstances around placing and removing these specific posters were reviewed before action was taken. We are governed by our contract with our shelter contractor and County ordinances.
A spokesman for GTA IV publisher Take-Two Interactive said the company was still reviewing the situation. A spokesman for the ESA referred inquiries back to Take-Two.
For his part, Thompson wasted no time in crowing about the removal of the ads in a news release:
...Jack Thompson has today persuaded the Miami-Dade Transit System to pull all advertisements for the Grand Theft Auto IV cop-killing simulation game from its bus stops.
In the wake of this success, Thompson is proceeding to get all GTA IV ads pulled from all US transit systems since such ads clearly violate promises made by the [ESRB], found right at its web site, not to place “Mature-rated” game ads in venues that will be seen by teens.
However, Thompson's contention about the ESRB appears to be incorrect. An ESRB spokesman told GP on Friday, "Considering the overwhelmingly adult demographic profile of mass transit riders... the placement of GTA IV ads in these types of outlets would typically not be in violation of [Ad Review Council] guidelines." Nor do the advertising guidelines listed on the ESRB website appear to support Thompson's contention.
Thompson may be confusing the ESRB ad guidelines with a 2002 report on the marketing of media violence by the Federal Trade Commission which addressed limiting the advertising of M-rated games in media where children constitute a specific percentage of the potential audience. The FTC report notes that the video game industry has a self-regulatory standard prohibiting print ads when children comprise more than 45% of the likely audience.
In his news release, the embattled Thompson also alleged a conspiracy between the video game industry and the judge who presided over his nine-day trial on Florida Bar ethics charges last November. That judge's recommendation on Thompson's future status as an attorney is expected in August.
GP: Readers, don't forget to Send Us Your GTA IV Bus Pix (Before they’re all gone)...
Comments
Hm... maybe I should go gank that while I still can?
:)
Will send a picture later.
Why are people still listening to this guy? One of these days, we're going to get him thrown behind bars, mark my words.
Surely pulling this ad falls into this category. Take-Two are in a perfect position to bend Jack over and **** him so hard he'll be ripped in half.
Then when he loses he will be penniless.
If that's not grounds for a harrasment suit I don't know what is.
entirely off topic but ill bite for the sake that im bored....
No that assumption is incorrect,however the number that are turning away from religion as they hit college and start learning about FACTS(you hear me benn stien?)of basic geology,biology and genetics.
With those Facts in hand they can start to deconstruct all the myths their parents handed down to them replacing them with how the real world works,however some never bother to learn this and just take the path of least resistance/laziness aka religion.this is where current generation fundamentalists keep coming from as their entire argument is "if I don't understand it and it doesn't fit what the bible says It must be wrong".
good example of this is the evolution debate in which general religion fanatics attack evolution as if it is not true.This tactic is the incorrect way to approach it as we all know changes over time is a fact,the theory part of it is how it works(much how like gravity is a fact but how it works is a theory...science has a hard time playing absolutes as you can see)The creationist debate is everything poofed into mid air with all features intact but have no evidence to back it up,nor any testing to even point to that thesis to begin with.example:
scientific method=observation>thesis>testing>hypothesis>testing>observation>do everything possible to disprove all previous work>theory>testing>theory>testing>theory>and finally pass it along to repeat until the community feels its a fact.
religion=observation from a book>theory>no testing>do everything possible to prove it correct>plug ears during debate>continue to spew unverifiable thesis>profit
Religions a whole works on the same wavelength of talking out its side while ignoring everything else in order to self propagate its control of the minds of those who follow them.JT works in the same fashion,blurt BS out to get his way while ignoring any and all facts.
Personally i would love JT to show up on GTA4 release day just to see how badly the lynch mob tears into him...
I only have his ComCast and it does not work. I already tried to e-mail him.
So what? GTA's so popular that Jack Thompson can't stop the sales from skyrocketing. If anything, they'll be more buyers who will buy it just to spite him.
JT's tactic will only work if said game was an indie title that desperately needs recognition.
So JT took down the bus ads. Big deal. Like those things actually work.
Speaking of which, I think I'll go GTA IV poster hunting today.
Him crowing about an achievement here is like a person boasting about stopping the tide because he has taken a spoonful of water out of the ocean. But that's Jack for you, the King Canute of modern times, railing and screaming at the tide while it pays him no attention and continues on it's way.
I know, how about a nice wholesome ad for Hostel 2. No?How about a Saw 4 ad, I bet that'd be more appropriate. Hmm, nooo, let's advertise The Hills Have Eyes 1 and 2 unrated there, I bet THAT'S kid friendly.[/sarcasm]
Which sort of sums up Thompson entirely really...
Don't forget who we're talking about here
And doesn't this contravene the same laws or regulations that the Chicago situation did?
For those not up on their latin, "The law disregards trifles".
The trifle, of course, being you, oxygen-waster.
You took down some ads. No one cares.
Sometimes I'm convinced JT is a fictional enemy created by T2 for the sole purpose of creating free advertising through sensationalist news stories about murder simulators :P
"I will first say that I am shocked that the Miami-Dade Transit would pull advertising for a video game simply because some shrew of a lawyer, Jack Thompson, threatened legal action or bad publicity. Thanks for putting up a good fight. Maybe next time, MDT might actually bring courage and integrity to the ball game. Does the MDT even realize the kind of misconduct Mr. Thompson is being sanctioned for by the Florida Bar? The MDT allowed an asinine lawyer, who once submitted pornography in a court docket (viewable to the public), to censor an ad which contains no obscenities. How does that happen?
Now that I've expressed my feelings about this decision, as a public citizen, I want to know the specifics. I want to know exactly what county ordinances the ads violated. Obviously, the advertisement was deemed suitable upon submission. What caused this decision to be overturned? I sure hope that MDT has a pretty damn good answer otherwise, it might just look like MDT bent over for some hackneyed ambulance chaser."
I'm sure everyone here wants to know what city ordinances the ads violated.
Or...someone ELSE might have complained about them and he is trying to take credit for it.
Think about this unlikely scenario. Something happens and a Rockstar/Take Two game is not released Wouldn't he try to cash in on the credit for having the game not released. In the form of a press release? Several press releases.
- Warren Lewis
Why did they give this man a victory?
The fire was almost extinguished. Almost. It was almost gone guys. ALMOST GONE!
But now, now an oiltanker has fallen on top of it.
I already feel sorry for myself. Sorry for the pain I am going to feel in the future when the results of this hit me.
Get prepared for alot of nonsense
I find the Bible obscene, but you don't see me confiscating JT's copy
岩「…I can see why Hasselbeck's worried about fake guns killing fake people. afterall, she's a fake journalist on a fake news channel」
I was kinda thinking the same thing. If there were a collective number of complaints, then the MDT's actions might make a little more sense. And I can't disagree that Thompson would try to take credit, or attempt to act like he is a key role when it comes to something he's interested in. (Points to the EA/T2 takeover volunteering).
Still doesn't change the fact that this whole situation is pretty dumb. I've seen plenty of R-rated movie posters on bus stops. How could a poster scar you for life unless you grew up as sheltered, sugar-coated, overprotected child that hasn't even experienced so much violence as a paper cut?
What worse about this though is that I know Thompson is going to try to use this as some sort credibility flaunt the next time he's on FOX NEWS.
"YOU THE KILLER TRAINED ON INTERACTIVE SIMULATORS CALLED 'VIDEO GAMES' THEY HYPNOTIZED HIM"
"I WROTE A BOOK ABOUT VIOLENT GAMES AND IT GOT EDITED FOR VIOLENCE"
"AND THERE WAS THIS ONE TIME WHERE THERE WERE VIOLENT GAME ADVERTISEMENTS IN THE MIAMI DALE TRANSIT, AND I GOT THEM REMOVED BECAUSE THE MDT KNEW JUST HOW VIOLENT THE GAME WAS AND THE VIOLENCE AND THE KILLING WAS THE VIOLENCE TO MURDER AND THE KILL AND GAMES AND VIOLENCE KILL MURDER KILL VIOLENCE.....
"I seem to have lost my train of thought."
mayor@miamidade.gov : Mayor
hch@miamidade.gov : Transit deputy-chief
hkapoor@miamidade.gov : Transit director
So two major cities won't advertise on buses. There are dozens of others that will. Yeah, you may threaten to get them pulled elsewhere, but knowing your track record, odds are you won't get very far. You only got your way because it was your city and your state. I don't think other city legislatures in other states will be as inclined to listen to you.
And even if they don't, so what? It will still be advertised in magazines, comic books, the internet and television. And the news media's reporting on it is giving the game more free publicity than Rockstar and Take 2 could ever hope for, and your own antics are aiding and abetting them. You ought to know that prohibiting something only makes people want it more. How incredibly dense are you? No, don't answer that.
Judge Tunis in requesting an extension has granted you a stay of execution. Obviously you're enjoying it. Make the most of it, Jack, because your days as a "moral crusader" are now numbered.
It's all very easy getting the advert removed from places which aren't going to make money from product sales. God knows it happens in the UK often enough. But you'll never stop game shops from announcing they have the latest must-buy title, will you?
Assume the general American public is misinformed/ignorant, and then you figure in all the people who did not have video games in their early years, and that's a lot of people who would be sympathetic to Johnny Bruce Thompson.
Or, as was speculated earlier by Cecil475, it could have been some other people complaining and Johnny Bruce Thompson just tried to take the credit for it.
Here's to hoping Florida and all its stupidity sink into the ocean a lot faster, now. This is beyond retarded, this is just pitiful.
Gaming Industry 100
Well done Jackhole. You're so close to absolute victory.
Even more fun, all those public "announcements" warning parents about GTA IV is free advertising.
That wouldn't surprise me. Jack is known to be quite an opportunist.
Even if they take down some ads, this wouldn't change much. If they "reviewed" the poster before removing it, they must have a good reason (much better than Jack's letter).
Which reminds me, I didn't encounter any GTAIV ads in Québec (beside in the video games specialized shops). I see advertising only on Québec-made products (with a few exceptions) and tobacco warnings.
Dennis, I'd like to know what Jack said about the conspiracy. Something of the like "They're all after me since I predicted Columbine and I'm going to destroy them all. (Evil laughter...and chokes) I'm getting to old to be that nasty." This would be an interesting read (and something interesting to add to the still-growing pile of evidence against him).
No double standard there at alll...
This is exactly what these agencies need. People actually questioning the rationale for why something is being done. If they can't come up with a satisfying answer, I would imagine that Rockstar could potentially sue them for large amounts of money. I can only assume that since its from public transportation that if they were sued and lost or setteled that we, the taxpayers, would be paying for this misstep.
I'd like to see that go on Thompson’s "win" column. "Increased taxes due to my own stupidity." Har har...
@ Kincyr
The Bible is in an incredibly graphic and mature book with stories of murder, war, adultery, torture, slavery, kidnapping, incest, and much much more. That’s a fact. I'm a Christian myself and will heartily agree that the Bible contains a multitude of very adult themed stories.
Yet, Christians teach their children what is in the bible from the time they are born. In elementary school they are exposed to these very adult themed stories and even encouraged to learn more and dive deeper into the scriptures.
By Thompson’s own rationale, he should be vehemently opposed to selling the Bible to minors.