In UK, GTA 4 Commercial Avoids Official Censure
In UK, GTA 4 Commercial Avoids Official Censure
July 30, 2008
A TV commerical for Grand Theft Auto 4 has dodged the censorship bullet in the U.K.
As reported by gamesindustry.biz, the Advertising Standards Authority declined to act on complaints about the spot, seen at left:
17 viewers took exception of the ad... Ten viewers complained about the violence, while seven took exception to the time of the broadcast...
"Although some viewers may object to the nature of the game, the ad itself did not feature sequences that were likely to have a direct harmful influence on children or young people," said the ASA.
GamePolitics readers may recall that the ASA similarly cleared a TV spot for Bully: Scholarship Edition in a ruling earlier this month.
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Posted 11/08/09 at 09:02am
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
DarkSaber: http://tinyurl.com/yez7jyo
Posted 11/08/09 at 09:01am
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
DarkSaber: Oh for gods sake, the Gearbox pres is gobbing off about Valve again
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:53am
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
JDKJ: But cheer up, Austin. If the unemployment rate continues to double-digit as predicted for the next few years, your half-dozen stands a better than likely chance of returning to power.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:46am
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
JDKJ: @DS: If he had added the line about "or hiring illegals aliens under the table to work as nannies," it would have been a completely perfect descripition. And, yes, it's about the same difference between a six and a half-dozen.
Posted 11/08/09 at 08:31am
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
DarkSaber: My god, that description makes them sound almost Republican. Still what did you expect, Obama is only marginally more left than republicans.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:07am
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Austin_Lewis: Health insurance, brought to you by the same kind of bureacrats who couldn't, in timely fashion, investigate the comments of any of the men Obama appointed Czars. Or their past. Or their history of not paying taxes.
Posted 11/08/09 at 01:06am
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Austin_Lewis: Yes, and what a piece of crap it was. Arresting and fining people just because they don't make a personal choice to buy healh insurance, creating over a hundred new bureacracies, and worse.
Posted 11/08/09 at 12:24am
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
ZippyDSMlee: JDKJ:the only trouble is a bunch of witless hacks wrote it....its going to be a train wreck....
Posted 11/07/09 at 11:33pm
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
JDKJ: BREAKING: In a photo-finish at the wire, House passes health care reform bill. Relatedly, in a fit of pique, Austin Lewis kicks innocent dog.
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:27pm
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
ZippyDSMlee: man I got alot of junk and dup files too >< god I need orginization...and no not the knee capping media mafia kind :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:26pm
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
ZippyDSMlee: replaced :P
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:23pm
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
ZippyDSMlee: beemoh:hey its like 60GB porn,400GB anime 100GB games and crap I have took from all my DVDs, I hate waiting on dvds to install stuff..... oh and 40GB of my porn was in the found.000 folder...mostly corrupted.... least I got names of wut needs to be repa
Posted 11/07/09 at 04:18pm
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
beemoh: @Zip: ...and you'd have to spend all that time re-downloading that porn?
Posted 11/07/09 at 03:34pm
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
ZippyDSMlee: ggrrrrr......vista lost one of my hard drives and I had a heart attack thinking I lost 1TB of data....
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:58am
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
JDKJ: Which could be explained by both (a) and (b).
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:56am
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Austin_Lewis: JDKJ: You forgot C) the fact that, for some reason, every time he did something that would suggest he shouldn't be in the military, let alone an officer, higher ups ignored it or let it slide.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:51am
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
JDKJ: Part of the problem is, I believe, that (a) the Army had a lot of time and money already invested in him and which they were unwilling to simply write-off and (b) an increasing need for the type of skills and services he provided.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:48am
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
JDKJ: And that even if he was begging not to get cut loose, he was apparently a real good candidate for being cut loose, anyway.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:11am
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
JDKJ: @chada: And while Kennedy once noted that there's usually more than enough blame for everyone to get a slice, the possibility that the Army was unwilling to cut loose someone who was asking to get cut loose could be a factor.
Posted 11/07/09 at 10:07am
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
ZippyDSMlee: *noms on his feet*..nomnomnomnom*droooll* ...wuuutttttt uuu looking at?
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Comments
I can´t believe they just need like 20 whinners to remove an add. I´m glad they don´t have any excuse to try to remove this one.
The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/
The number of people who complain to the ASA is irelevant to its consideration, but the figure is always published. They only need 1 complaint to act, but - interestingly - a large number of complaints does not seem to infulence their decision. Probably because the existence of mass comlplaints usually suggests a organised mailing complaint from an interest group.
For the record the ASA is largely a self regulatory body in the same vein as the MPAA and ESRB.
Two vehicles explode, there is the brief sound of gunfire, and the main character breaks into a car. Too right they'd dismiss the complaints.
As someone living in the UK, I feel I should explain :)
There are some sad induhviduals here that feel it's their duty to complain about every single advert that goes on TV.
They got one removed because a dog seemed to be shivering. That's really about all I can say about the matter without getting depressed about human stupidity.
so they've avoided a censure or censorship? i'm confused.
Ah censorship, protecting the sheeple from wool products.......how...unpleasant....
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Are you kidding me? Wow... Thanks for the intel Steve. I never knew, but wow... Mankind does not deserve their position in this world... I... wow... Okay, I am speechless... I think mand kind needs a survival of the fittest type event to happen, because there is a lot of fat that needs to be cut.
This is like Hillary Clinton putting blame on game developers for kids playing violent video games when the parents shouldnt have kids in the first place if they refuse to actually parent them. If ESRB isn't good enough, you don't deserve to have kids.
In Australia, their politicians don't even know what a Wii is as we saw last week I believe...
In the US again, we have McCain that doesnt own or know how to work a cell phone, doesnt know how to use a computer well enough to send email, and yeah... pretty much any newer technology or somewhat new technology. That is host MOST of the US government is somehow. This world is a very sad place, and we need younger people to be a part of running these countries. We could really cut through a lot of this bull.
I also love the "psychological studies" the politicians pull out of their rear that say violent video games creates violent kids. Last I checked, bad parenting does, which would include violent kids being allowed to play violent video games.
Why, so we can fuck up other planets too? There's a reason we only live about 75 years apiece.
What the hell dude, do you know anything? Lets start with this, what would an object that weights 100lbs on Earth weight on Mars? Go get an education before posting, especially if you dont have the balls to put in your name or a username that represents your name. Look, I can do that too!
Wow, that was just about the biggest piece of fail I've ever seen. Nowhere in his post did he mention anything about "weight" and it's difference on different spacial bodies. And I put my name in, unlike you. Coward.
At least DeepThorn attempted to end his post on a positive note, which is something that more than a few people are incapible of doing.
Good job UK for standing up to 34 of your most uptight citizens. About time.
Man that game looks awesome, I'll certainly have to buy it, wait I already did, and beat it.
"Although some viewers may object to the nature of the game, the ad itself did not feature sequences that were likely to have a direct harmful influence on children or young people," said the ASA."
Translation: The ad itself did not feature sequences that could in any way have a direct harmful influence on children or young people".
It's bad enough that the scaremongers ignore the research that suggest that there are no harmful effects from games, but now they are claiming that the ads are just as bad... Next we can expect them to demand that sleeves for game packaging be white with the title written in a non-offensive pink font to stop it turning the kids into mass murderers. Then you will have to bring your game home in a brown paper bag so no-one has to see it.
I wonder how much money is spent on investigating these complaints. They should have a filter at the ASA that says "If complainer's age is greater than 40 and topic is video games, send to trash because they don't understand what they are complaining about".
It saddens me these adverts for GTA were absoultly nothing and people were complaining about them due to the fact that they did not like grand theft auto.
There are times when said complaints are justified and the ASA does deem to act upon them, but most of the time it is just frivelous complaints about nothing,