GTA Online serves as an advertising platform for corona vaccinations.
One reason why GTA 5 is still so popular after more than eight years is the multiplayer part GTA Online. While we’re still looking forward to new content here, it’s also the role-playing servers that keep the game so successful. Precisely because so many people log into the role-playing servers every day, a company in Brazil now wants to use this hub to get younger players in particular to make real decisions. Specifically, that means convincing them to get vaccinated against the corona virus.
The corona vaccination
You can also find information on corona vaccination at zusammengegencorona.de, a website of the Federal Center for Health Education. There you can get comprehensive information about the vaccines, possible risks and everything important about the vaccination appointment.
Pfizer aims to reach young people through GTA Online
While corona vaccinations are still being advertised in a more conventional way in Europey, the pharmaceutical company Pfizer is taking a rather unusual approach in Brazil. In order to get the young population in particular to get a real vaccination, they started a virtual vaccination campaign on the RP server “Cidade Alta”.
Together with the agencies Ogilvy Brazil, Druid as well as the server owners, the hashtag was created #VaccineInGame, via which many players share their virtual, but also real vaccinations on social media. According to GamePressure some well-known Brazilian streamers like Diddy also took part. Ogilvy shows what this looks like on Twitter, where #InGameVaccine is advertised:
Link to Twitter content
If you want to learn more about the RP scene in GTA Online because you might be interested in it yourself, you will find all the helpful information in Dennis’s special:
more on the subject
GTA 5 as a real role-playing game: what’s behind it and how you are involved
GTA Online is not the first Corona-themed game
For many, games serve as a place of refuge that is above all free from Corona and is intended to distract from it. Nevertheless, it is not surprising that the pandemic is being discussed in games. While Pfizer is making waves with its advertising campaign, something comparable can already be found in other titles.
As early as April 2020, posters could be found in Dirt Ralley 2.0 that said “Stay Home, Save Lives”. The popular Candy Crush mobile game also played its part by using 230 advertising spaces to provide information about the coronavirus. So at least in the UK, how BBC then reported.
This type of advertising shouldn’t come as a surprise, especially when you consider that the pandemic has only increased the number of people using video games.
No comment function?
Since the topic of Corona and the associated vaccination are discussed very emotionally, we expect increased moderation effort. That’s why we decided to move the comments to the forum. There you can discuss the article as usual.
Here is the forum thread
