GTA VI marketing spreads across Miami as county officials push back
The marketing for Grand Theft Auto VI spreads further across Miami. The stadium of the Miami Dolphins showed ads, and a Vice City blimp is on its way south. Some county commissioners want to halt new deals with Rockstar Games, The Miamian reports.
Commissioners object
At a meeting last week, several commissioners of Miami-Dade County spoke out against the campaign, the local news site The Miamian writes. The staff of mayor Daniella Levine Cava is negotiating with Rockstar about Vice City installations in public places.
Those talks include Miami International Airport, PortMiami and stations of the Metromover. Rockstar would pay the county to temporarily dress them up as Vice City.
Commissioner René Garcia said the whole plan felt really uncomfortable. Garcia does not want the county to work with a game that depicts Miami as a crime haven and a murder capital. Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins pointed to a county rule against advertising that promotes violence.
The price of the arena sign
The Vice City sign on the Kaseya Center brings the county 975,000 dollar. Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez suspects that amount was chosen to stay below 1 million dollar. Above that limit, the commission has to vote on a county contract.
Garcia says Rockstar spends at least 150 million dollar on marketing, and finds the amount too low. The office of the mayor answers that the deal covers a single rooftop display. Over seven months that comes to about 139,000 dollar a month, the office says.
A vote on 20 October
A vote to let the mayor negotiate a deal above 1 million dollar almost turned into a ban on all talks with Rockstar. Commissioner Oliver Gilbert postponed that vote. The commission meets again on 20 October.
The city of Miami and Miami Beach already have their own deals, The Miamian writes. Miami receives up to 1.2 million dollar for six temporary banners. Miami Beach allows GTA VI signage on beach concession equipment, for up to 4 million dollar.
The next part of the campaign was expected from 15 October, IGN writes. Miami journalist Joel Franco says an unnamed official doubts that the deals will be ready in time.
Stadium and blimp
Over the weekend, the Hard Rock Stadium of the Miami Dolphins carried ads for GTA VI. The big screen showed the release date. After a touchdown, an animation read “In for VI”, a nod to the six points a touchdown scores, IGN writes.
A photo of the stadium screen was shared on X.
New image of Hard Rock Stadium #GTAVI marketing on the actual live cam screen via @golfoscar69 This is insane marketing.
A Goodyear blimp with Vice City livery left Akron in Ohio, heading south, Joel Franco posted on X. A stop in North Carolina was planned. Whether the blimp continues to South Florida is not known.
Goodyear Blimp with Vice City livery is currently flying south out of Akron, Ohio. Scheduled to stop in North Carolina this afternoon. Wondering if it’ll head to South Florida for the big marketing kickoff on Thursday? 👀 📸: Cecil Richmond/Goodyear Blimp Fan Club
Rockstar has also put up at least one Vice City mural in Miami, according to IGN. On 18 November, the eve of the release, the Miami Heat play as Vice City.
What is not known
Rockstar has not responded to the objections of the commissioners. What Rockstar pays for the stadium ads and the blimp is not known. Whether the county deals go ahead depends on the meeting of 20 October.
Source: IGN