Following Target Australia's decision to pull Grand Theft Auto 5 from stores, fans are writing sarcastic change.org petitions telling the developer to ban other products from stores, including the Holy Bible.
The petition claims that the Bible is a sickening book that encourages readers to commit sexual violence, and murder women for entertainment. This joins a batch of other similarly themed petitions, telling the retailer to ban sales of knives, Fifty Shades of Grey, and Super Mario Brothers. Another petition asks the retailer to change their aggressive logo.
All these mock petitions are meant to undermine a single change.org petition started by some women who were survivors of female violence, that asked the retailer to remove the game from shelves. They were actually able to raise 40,000 signatures, and following widespread mainstream media coverage, not only were they able to convince Target, but Kmart also pulledthe game from their shelves. They are now petitioning other retailers to do the same.
While the petitioners can rightly claim success for their campaign, the sarcastic responses from angry GTA fans indicate a lack of understanding of Target's decision. As corporate affairs general manager Jim Cooper explained, they are pulling the game from their stores not because of its content, but because of the widespread consumer demand, which they have vetted comes from the majority of their consumer base.
Considering that Target and Kmart can sell video games, but are not primarily video game retailers, they do have the prerogative to stop stocking any game product. They can similarly choose to pull game products from stock following low demand, or a shift in retail strategy. If you are a GTA fan in Australia, of course, you can still buy the game in gaming retail outlets like EB Games, and preorder it on Steam.
