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
If GTA is so powerful as to ruin kids by seeing a poster in that "lawyers" eyes then he should be sectioned. And prefferably shot.
I don't think the best writers in the world (and despite their success, I say T2's don't come near that level) could come up with a personality as beyond messed up at Thompson. And even if they could, I could not see anyone in the world capable of acting it out so perfectly. :)
Honestly a case of "truth is stranger than fiction".
Jack, we are witnessing your future. After you get disbarred, you'll turn into a crotchety old man who resorts to "get those damn kids off my lawn" tactics such as this and believe it to be holy vengeance brought down on the wicked.
What's next for you? Getting rid of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue throughout the state of Florida? It's important to have goals.
http://www.instituteforlegalreform.com/states/lawsuitclimate2008/
Watch Jack get disbarred and suddenly Florida shoots up 15 spots
@You See: A Lurker
I would assume they did, I doubt R* will just sit there and say "oh well" I'm pretty sure those ads weren't cheap.
April 26th, 2008 at 8:38 am
I’m becoming more and more worries about the games industry, why are the consumers having to protect it? When are they going to start protecting themselves? It’s not like they don’t have enough money or lawyers.
"
exactly.. i just dont get it.
Im sick of having to fight for the industry from attacks by narrow minded hypocrites like JT with no support from the industry itself.
Take two grow a pair and get this unconstitutional decision overturned its utter BS
i think everyone should email the adresses above though for the transit company its ridiculous. The ads had NOTHING violent or sexual or offensive about them.
It reminds me of that crappy M&M's racing game "APPROACHING THE SOUND BARRIER!" as the speedometer reads 20mph.
If that is indeed true, then yes, Jack's royally boned himself now! Like I say, the Karmic chicken always comes home to roost. ;)
Even if not, like I was trying to say before, Jack may have won this battle, but he's ultimately going to lose the war.
Jack Thompson says:HTRCXJSCTksyudujcbaskduiyzFBkcuaysiufcgahaghgah! (Video games are bad, m'kay.)
Mental note however not to move to the Miami-Dade area.
I'm not sure I'd want to move to a State where a fair percentage of Teens think that drinking bleach prevents HIV and that smoking weed is a contraceptive to be honest ;)
Ah... protecting the children from reality, what damage it does...
I forgot what the suit was called. But we all knows he's went against his slience deal numerous times! This is one of them.....I don't think T2 will act out on his man again.
Would seeing a bus stop advert of a guy standing there and the words "Grand Theft Auto, April 29th" be that big of a draw to you? Would you suddenly think, "My God! I must have that!"
No, probably not. In fact, if you've never heard of GTA it probably wouldn't even register as a game advert unless you looked closely and saw the 360 and PS3 logos.
Now, let's pretend that you're a 12-year-old who has heard of GTA. Do you honestly think that bus stop add being there or not is going to influence your desire for the game in any way?
No, probably not. If you want it, you're going to want it whether you see that ad or not. If you don't care about GTA, that poster sure as heck ain't going to change your mind.
So, exactly what's the point of getting these ads removed?
Andrew Eisen
I read that in a forum a minutes ago, and I´m looking if that is real.
http://gamerush.zoomshare.com/files/news/002565_Jack_Thompson_sends_lett...
"Dear Mrs. Zelnick:
Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don’t know), is Chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countries but sold to children here.
Your son last week was reported to have said the following about Grand Theft Auto IV, due to be released Tuesday, April 29: “We’ve already received numerous [GTA IV] reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores. My mom couldn’t write better reviews…” Taking your son’s thought, I would encourage you either to play this game or have an adroit video gamer play it for you. Some of the latter gamers are on death row, so try to find one out in the civilian population who hasn’t killed someone yet.
What you will see in your son’s game, if this iteration of GTA is anything like its predecessors, is incredible interactive violence aimed at police officers (whom you can shoot in the head and see the blood spray), innocent bystanders (whom you can run over with your car just for the heck of it), and of course the plentiful female prostitutes you can have sex with and then filet with a knife or stomp with your feet in order to get your money back. Experts note that the recent plethora of cop killings is caused in part by your darling son’s entrepreneurial energy. There are three policemen dead in Alabama because of Grand Theft Auto. I was on 60 Minutes about it. I hope Strauss has provided you with a flat screen tv to see the grief of the bereaved families that fills the screen.
The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers’ children, but, hey, your son Strauss has recently assured the world that he is “a Boy Scout, everybody knows that.” I’d love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge? If so, your loving son deserves one now. It should be red and green, for obvious reasons.
With Passover having just come and gone, it is appropriate to note the following from the Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6:
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children? Any kid can go right to little Strauss’ corporate web site and buy GTA IV with no age verification. Strauss is even marketing the new Grand Theft Auto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions of kids. If you trained up Strauss to do this, then shame on you.
But maybe the explanation for your son’s corporate sociopathy is to be found in Old Testament Proverb 29:15:
“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
Maybe you, Mrs. Zelnick, were so taken by your handsome son that you spared the rod and spoiled the child. That would explain why he has brought you, by the way he presently acts, “to shame.”
There’s another mother you would do well to talk to. Mrs. Crump in Alabama had a son who was a police officer. He’s now dead because a teenaged boy unwittingly trained himself to kill him on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She has a grief she carries every day that only a mother can know.There are other such mothers in the heartland of America whose inhabitants your son simply sees as commercial targets.
Your son, this very moment, is doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be “a Boy Scout.” More like the Hitler Youth, I would say. Happy Mother’s day, Mrs. Zelnick, which this year is May 11, two weeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers’ boys. I’m sure you’re very proud.
Sincerely, Jack Thompson"
Serously: that man is a real asshole.
To clarify, Thompson did not send that letter directly to Zelnick's mom. Although the letter is made out to here, he sent it to Take-Two.
Andrew Eisen
he DOES know the bible is one the most violent books ever written right?
if children read the bible at church then what's wrong with a little GTA?
is it because it's religious, therefore it's ok?
how many people have died because of religion?
Also, does he have a right to talk about someone's son like that? what did his son do? oh yeah, he bought a M-RATED VIDEO GAME! how old is he? 14?
My prayers go out to that boy...
He really said that? Jesus Christ, what a $#!$##$$$**bag! I love the "unwittingly trained himself to kill" line. Unless he was already intent on killing, why would he use this so called "training"?
It's one thing to pull an ad that's situated near a hospital and a children's park. But taking this complaint nationwide is not only delusional, but will undoubtedly give GTA IV even more publicity.
Thompson, this is important so listen up: Stay home with your wife while she recovers. She deserves your attention much more than some non-violent, non-pornographic advertisements.
Yeah, but he'd probably just represent himself. And you know what they say, "A person who represents themself has a fool for a client."
And as we all know, Thompson is the fooliest of the fools.
I'd ask to take a look at it, you'll probably find the Ten Commandments replaced with 'I CAN DO WHATEVER THE F*** I WANT, AND SCREW THE REST OF YOU! HOOAH!'
Getting the game's tame posters removed for a highly publicized game that gets released on this Tuesday accomplishes nothing.
Hmmm, didn't the last time something like this happen the courts ruled that the mass-transit was being hypocritical in allowing advertisements for R-RATED movies and "mature" TV shows? And someone remind me, didn't Rockstar get their money back on it, maybe even to the extent the advertisements ended up costing them nothing?
Here is to looking forward to more LOLs in the upcoming days/months...
If you have been following what he has said and done for a while --like the Bully case, the alerting the FBI to that Dick Chaney Hunting flash, all his rambling about some massive conspiracy involving everyone, preemptively going to get evaluated for "sanity" by a Dr. of his own choosing, etc -- it all makes sense...
its time for your medication
Post this board somewhere on your property.
And I second everyone's opinion: The man is a total asshole.
But I'm really looking forward to picking up my copy of the murder simulator du jour on Tuesday.
hence the medication =p