Boston transit system bans M rated game ads
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Dec 14th 2006 at 4:25AM }
The MBTA, Boston's public transit system authority, has decided to ban advertising in the system for all M and AO rated video games. According to The Boston Herald the transportation authority believed that if "X-rated movies" are banned from advertising, so should M and AO rated games. We're a little tired of trying to explain what The Boston Herald means in Boston. Let's leave it at they helped hype Susan Linn's Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood who said, "We are thrilled that the MBTA has been so responsive to community concerns ... The children of Boston can now ride the MBTA without being targets for advertising that glorifies violence." Meanwhile the MBTA continues to promote alcoholism with entire train cars full of Tanqueray and Bud Light advertisements. Obviously MBTA General Manager Daniel Grabauskas finds video games a much greater concern to the community than alcoholism.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Pete @ Dec 14th 2006 5:02AM
So no 'M' rated games but I'm sure they are totally OK with 'R' rated movies.
shivr @ Dec 14th 2006 5:11AM
well you know... like the article you all linked too/posted about a while back, the unknown threat is far more terrifying than the known, statistics, logic, and common sense be damned.
AnimalTaglits @ Dec 14th 2006 5:19AM
I don't see the problem if they ban R rated movies as well. You seem to be complaining about alcoholism but I'm pretty sure everyone that drinks isn't an alcoholic.
Boston is just trying to protect its kids from violence and by banning some M rated games from advertising (what child needs to see a blood spattered soldier anyway) they probably wont be hurting the video game industry any. They still have TV, Internet, Magazines, Billboards, Buses, Trains, T-shirts, word of mouth, etc.
KL @ Dec 14th 2006 5:29AM
I think this is a great move. Actually, check out www.commercialfreechildhood.org
I'm all about protecting our youth from the gross excesses of life.
FSK405K @ Dec 14th 2006 5:59AM
Commercial free? You know this is America, right?
Not that I'm ever going to buy any games with massive ingame sponsorship, even if it means playing SNES for the rest of my life.
FSK405K @ Dec 14th 2006 6:01AM
They also point to cnet as a source for reviews. Might as well direct people to peoplemagazine.com.
FSK405K @ Dec 14th 2006 6:02AM
Huh? My comment posted itself on the wrong story. Weird.
Greg2k @ Dec 14th 2006 7:29AM
I think it's a great move. Doesn't really hurt anyone and could help, little by little.
And the comparison between M rated games and Bud LIGHT is just retarded.
jron @ Dec 14th 2006 7:11AM
Chowda!
DiRT @ Dec 14th 2006 7:39AM
"Meanwhile the MBTA continues to promote alcoholism with entire train cars full of Tanqueray and Bud Light advertisements. "
Because only alcoholics drink alcohol?
STRAW MAN!
Alex, we get that you live in Boston and everything about games pisses you off, but get over it already.
Marty @ Dec 14th 2006 7:49AM
The point of taking the ad down was so minors weren't exposed to things that are for adults only. The point of this article is that..... Alcohol is for adults only.... If videogames turn kids violent and ads are going to turn them violent, then alcohol can turn kids into alcoholics and drunks....
The writer is not saying that all people who drink are alcoholics. God some people really need to take reading comprehension classes!!!!!
Tarheel_Mark @ Dec 14th 2006 8:10AM
This always reminds me of Wal-mart's policy of not selling CD's that carry parental warning labels. Meanwhile, in that same area there are R-rated movies, Sopranos box sets and M-rated games.
KilgoreTrout XL @ Dec 14th 2006 8:32AM
I implore you to stop giving the Herald free ad space. They don't deserve it.
The Boston Herald is a sensationalist POS joke and everyone in Boston with half a brain knows it. The trees they cut down were a far greater benefit to society than the collective staff's endeavors at that worthless rag.
Incidentally, circulation of this thing has been plummeting. Now it may be due to internet competition, but I like to think that people have begun to realize what a waste of time it is.
http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2006/11/20/daily32.html?surround=lfn
Good riddance. I do hope that the writers can get their jobs at Teen Beat back.
Ben @ Dec 14th 2006 8:48AM
#11- Marty: You're dead on. #9... are you smoking something? Read Marty's comments, and grow up. The alcohol comparison by the writer is 100 percent corrrect.
Cal (The New Noise Thriller) @ Dec 14th 2006 9:23AM
"They also point to cnet as a source for reviews. Might as well direct people to peoplemagazine.com."
FSK405K, strangely enough this comment works for anything!
Tom B. @ Dec 14th 2006 9:29AM
@9. "And the comparison between M rated games and Bud LIGHT is just retarded."
When I lived in the deep South, I witnessed first hand how quickly Bud Light turns people into raving, violent lunatics. Not only is there a correlation; there's causation, a physiological link. Alcohol makes people more dangerous.
There's never been a proven instance that violence in video games causes harm. People point to games after the fact, but there are far more people playing violent games who *don't* commit violent crimes than people who do. There's virtually no correlation, not to speak of causation.
Having said that, I don't believe "M" rated games should be marketed to children, particularly the GTA series since their highly stylized ads give the impression of some offbeat cartoon. I also don't believe cigarette ads should be displayed in culture magazines (which are read by many teenagers), and alcohol ads don't belong on billboards of busy streets.
As for the MBTA, I agree with Alex. If they're going to set up an advertising policy, it should apply to all industries, including alcohol and movies. Otherwise, institute no policy at all.
Grant @ Dec 14th 2006 10:03AM
I highly doubt they ban ads for R rated movies, which often have nudity, which you'll never find in a M rated game. Annoying.
gabur @ Dec 14th 2006 10:17AM
By the way, as us gamers are voters too and MBTA consumers (or not), do not forget to send your comments to MBTA General Manager (this information is public and therefore, no legal trouble):
Daniel Grabauskas, General Manager MBTA
phone: (617) 222 - 5000
e-mail: dgrabauskas@mbta.com
I just send him and email telling him how much I will appreciate if he could ban alcohol, R-rated movies and ads with women in bikinis all along (or let the M-rated games have some ads !).
gabur @ Dec 14th 2006 10:27AM
Here is my letter:
"Mr. Grabauskas,
I'm really unhappy about your recent decision about GTA Vice City Stories billboards as I consider this decision is highly hypocritical and it not the result of a global way of thinking community problems.
I don't think that video games are now in America a much greater concern to the community than alcoholism or sexual harassment.
Therefore, I will switch back to my personal car and boycott MBTA as long as they consider video games as something more harmful versus alcohol or women objectification.
Best regards"
Kyp @ Dec 14th 2006 11:27AM
The current ad campaign covering Boston's South Station is for Scotch. There are posters literally everywhere. On the walls, hanging from the rafters, on the floor.
Frank @ Dec 14th 2006 11:48AM
I live in Boston, and unfortunately because it's the easiest paper to read when on the subway (I'm a Boston Globe man myself, just too big), I'm subjected to the conservative rantings of their writers.
Score this as another victory for the conservative right.
They got pissed in Cambridge because Sarah Jessica Parker look suggestive in her ad for Sex in the City that was riding around town on MBTA buses.
They're just plain nuts. There's way bigger fishes to fry in the city and we seem to keep wasting our time with rubbish like this
White Rose Duelist @ Dec 14th 2006 12:07PM
The MBTA is one of the worst-run organizations in the known universe. Not long ago, they charged a few hundred (perhaps thousand?) riders for passes they didn't receive, some multiple times. Don't bother writing them; they don't care a lick about their customers because their income has nothing to do with whether anyone likes them or thinks they are doing a good job.
Also, the Herald is a trashy newspaper in a town full of trashy newspapers.