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A Highland Park resident is upset that the video game "Grand Theft Auto 5" is being advertised across the street from an area middle school, and she is hoping the administration can convince the game's producers to take the billboard down.
Jennifer Carter spoke to Highland Park Patch about the billboard that went up at the northeast corner of Figueroa Street and Cypress, directly in view of Nightingale Middle School. She admits she has no connection to the school, but is merely a "local concerned resident," as she described herself in her email to the school's assistant principal.
Carter's concern is that the billboard, touting the release of the much-anticipated fifth installment of the popular game, is not appropriate viewing for the middle schoolers.
"The billboard shows the guy with markings on his neck that read 'Cut Here,' insinuating that he's slitting his throat," Carter said.“The gaming industry knows better, but unfortunately they seem to not care if it’s in a neighborhood where no one says anything,” she said, referring to the GTA billboard
GTA is produced by Rockstar Games, which requires an age check for people to even view their website, which is in part what is upsetting Carter about the ad being in plain sight of teens and pre-teens.
While she concedes the school has no control over what is displayed on area billboards, she hopes that the administrators will join her in asking Rockstar Games to take the advertising elsewhere.
Advertising has been large-scale for the game, which is set in the fictional city of Los Santos, a place that is very, very similar to Los Angeles.
