The Australian branch of the retail chain Target has announced today (Wednesday, December 3rd) that it’ll be removing Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 5 (GTA 5) from its inventory due to customer feedback regarding the game’s depiction of violence against women.
According to the chain’s press release, Target’s general manger of corporate affairs, Jim Cooper, explained that this maneuver was a decision made following “extensive community and customer concern about the game.“
“We’ve been speaking to many customers over recent days about the game, and there is a significant level of concern about the game’s content,” Cooper said in the press release.
“We’ve also had customer feedback in support of us selling the game, and we respect their perspective on the issue. However, we feel the decision to stop selling GTA 5 is in line with the majority view of our customers.“
Whilst Target Australia won’t be selling GTA 5 anymore, Cooper also added that the branch would continue to sell other R-rated DVDs and games. Despite the other products the branch sells that depict imagery that consumers may find offensive, the majority of consumers didn’t want Target Australia to sell GTA 5 anymore.
“While these products often contain imagery that some customers find offensive, in the vast majority of cases, we believe they are appropriate products for us to sell to adult customers. However, in the case of GTA 5, we have listened to the strong feedback from customers that this is not a product they want us to sell,” Cooper concluded.
It wasn’t mentioned in the press release whether or not other Target branches will also remove GTA 5 from their respective shelves. So far, it seems to be only Target Australia that’s doing this.
The feedback is believed to have originated from a petition on Change,org, which was launched a few days ago by Australian women who survived violent turmoils in their lives. The petition’s hope was to request Target Australia to remove GTA 5 from its shelves, and the petition itself later gained over 40,000 supporters.
The petition declared GTA 5 as game that encourages players to murder women for entertainment.
“Please Target – we appeal to you as women survivors of violence, including women who experienced violence in the sex industry, to immediately withdraw Grand Theft Auto V from sale,” the petition reads.
We’ll bring you more news on this should further information reach our ears.
[ Source(s): Target / Change ]