[1997–1998] Grand Theft Auto — When an 18 Certificate Became the Advert
BMG’s launch advertising sold Grand Theft Auto through crime, controversy and adult restriction before explaining how the game played.
The clearest example appeared in PC Zone, Issue 61, March 1998. A large red BBFC 18 certificate dominated the page beneath the headline: “Grand Theft Auto is so good, it won a certificate before it was even released.”
The copy treated the rating as an honour. It compared GTA with Reservoir Dogs, Death Race 2000 and Crash, placing the game alongside provocative adult cinema. Its closing line turned exclusion into part of the attraction: “Sorry kids. Grow up and see what you’re missing.”
Before the adverts appeared
The campaign was already being built around controversy. On 20 November 1997, Campaign reported that BMG planned press and radio advertising, a four-week online promotion and posters in public toilets for the European launch. The report also identified publicist Max Clifford’s involvement.
The BBFC classified GTA 18 on 21 November 1997, giving BMG a restriction it could turn into advertising material. The certificate was presented as proof that GTA belonged to an adult audience.
One campaign, several approaches
The certificate advert was part of a wider collection of regionally adapted material. Surviving advertisements collected by MobyGames show how the same criminal identity was expressed across different markets.
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A French advert suggested that if the player was going to be a bastard, they might as well be the worst. German adverts presented the reader with typed instructions from the Mafia. An American advert placed six supposed offenders in a police line-up beneath the words “It’s a crime.”
Other adverts included practical details such as more than 30 vehicles, three cities and prominent review scores. Those features were framed through headlines about theft, criminality, threat and restricted access.
Parliament did not ban Grand Theft Auto. The Lords exchange in May 1997 recorded that the game had not yet been submitted to the BBFC, and the defeat of Amendment №6 in March 1998 was not a vote to prohibit it. What drew scrutiny was the game’s criminal identity, not its certification.
A separate North American campaign
On 24 March 1998, ASC Games issued a press release promoting the North American PC version. Its publicity targeted players aged 17 and over and included planned advertising through Howard Stern.
ASC handled its own campaign, but the pitch followed the same broad principle seen in BMG’s British advertising: GTA was presented as entertainment for an older audience, with notoriety forming part of its appeal.
The campaign established an identity that extended beyond screenshots or technical features. GTA’s advertising sold the fantasy of criminal freedom, while its age restrictions helped define who was being invited — and who was being told to wait.
