It may not be the most popular brand, but the logo of Rockstar Games It’s recognized almost everywhere on the planet: its bold letter “R” and that little white star has appeared in hundreds of millions of homes right at the start of blockbuster games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption or head-turning titles like Bully. And, for some time now, in more and more cars in China. Specially in DiDi vehicles.
It could be said that DiDi is the equivalent of Uber in China, offering arranged transport and taxi services. It has expansion plans to offer autonomous vehicles, but the truth is that it operates through its own network of drivers. Being these, who decorate the company car placing the Rockstar Games logo under the mirror or near the steering wheel. They were the first, but they are not the only ones.
This curious phenomenon began to occur in some cities and, little by little, has expanded to more and more. Both in private cars and in public service vehicles. And be careful, now comes the best: many drivers of these They have no idea what it means.
In fact, many of them are people of a certain age who, in fact, do not usually fit the profile of a video game player or a fan of the RockStar Games sagas. If there is a profile. This does not prevent passengers from asking the usual question during the journey: Are you a fan of Rockstar games?
Is this some elaborate, large-scale marketing move by Take Two? Covert advertising? Cold Cold. The answer to why this phenomenon has begun to occur is given to us by Shawn_China_Investor through his Tik Tok channel, and it couldn’t be more peculiar: these hanging logos are actually car air fresheners. Of course, the story does not end there. Why of all the imaginable designs are Rockstar’s chosen instead of the traditional little tree?
@shawn_china_investor the Rockstar Games logo in Chinese ride-hailing cars #chinesebusiness #chineseecommerce #chinesesupplier #businesstok #businesstips
♬ original sound – Shawn_China_investor – Shawn_China_investor
The answer itself is genius: these are extraordinarily cheap car air fresheners. They cost about 20 cents each, according to Shawn_China_Investor, making them bought in huge numbers and selling like hotcakes. So the reason they’ve become an increasingly common vehicle item is a really pragmatic reason.
In fact, the most twisted of all is that it is not even an air freshener produced by Take Two itself o Official merchandising: According to the content creator, the original manufacturer simply searched the internet for a simple logo with bright colors and dedicated itself to producing air fresheners in industrial quantities at extremely cheap prices. In other words: it could almost have been any logo.
Which does not mean that, even if it is not officially licensed Rockstar merchandise, it is achieving a brand position that in other circumstances would be valued at millions of dollars.
It is almost poetic that RockStar Games has turned hundreds of millions of gamers of all ages into taxi drivers through video games and in China has become an icon for professional drivers. In any case, it’s a matter of time before we see that logo again in a new game: leaks aside, Grand Theft Auto 6 is in the oven and surpassing the bar for the fifth installment will not be easy.
Will we see in the next GTA before the Rockstar games air freshener phenomenon hits the west? At this rate, and except for last-minute surprises, we see the latter only a little more viable.
In ExtraLife | I have played 200 hours of GTA Online and it is already clear to me: better to play alone than in bad company
In ExtraLife | The wonderful or disastrous transition of GTA Online when GTA VI launches and the current installment is in the past
A VidaExtra |
Now GTA V is the undisputed king, but in the early 2000s we had many alternatives
