Marketer Fined $75,000 for a Cyberpunk 2077 Mural in Sao Paulo, Brazil

A marketing agency in Brazil has been fined for advertising Cyberpunk 2077. The agency was fined for a mural in Sao Paulo.

It has been nearly a month since Cyberpunk 2077 was released. But it has seen its fair share of problems. The game had an absolute rough launch; it was plagued with bugs and glitches.

Consequently, the game faced immense backlash from the gaming community. It was delisted from the PlayStation Store and is currently facing four class-action lawsuits. But it seems that the fallout is not limited to just the game or the developers.

A marketing agency, NaLata, has been fined $75,000 for a Cyberpunk mural on the side of a building in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Marketing is something that is generally accepted, and not many people think about it. CDPR (and other game companies) do not have an office in every country they launch their game in. So, they hire marketing agencies to get the word out. However, it seems to have backfired this time because different parts of the world have different rules and regulations.

It was initially reported by the Brazilian gaming magazine START, Marketing agency NaLata recreated a massive mural of the cover art from Cyberpunk 2077 on the side of a building in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But, due to the city’s “Clean City” ordinance, most outdoor advertising is prohibited. As a result, the agency was ordered to take down the mural and was fined $75,000 by the city courts.

The ordinance was issued to prevent pervasive advertising. START reported that NaLata was not informed about the illegality of creating a mural on the side of the building. Adding to the confusion, the city’s official Twitter handle complimented the mural in a now-deleted Tweet.

Sao Paulo has a thriving art community that is occasionally allowed to paint murals on buildings’ sides. However, when the case of the Cyberpunk 2077 murals was brought before the city courts, it was ruled to be an advertisement. Therefore, an order was issued to remove it. Moreover, NaLata was fined $75,000 for violating the city’s laws.

START has requested a comment from CDPR and Warner Brothers, but they have not said anything about the incident yet.

About Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt, based on video game designer Mike Pondsmith’s game series.

Set in a dystopian cyberpunk universe, the player assumes the role of “V,” a mercenary in the fictional Californian city known as “Night City,” where they deal with the fallout from a heist gone wrong that results in an experimental cybernetic “bio-chip” containing an engram of the legendary rock star and terrorist Johnny Silverhand (played by Keanu Reeves) threatening to slowly overwrite V’s mind; as the story progresses V and Johnny must work together to find a way to be separated and save V’s life.