GTA 6's fake brands are on real Miami billboards, and a Macca cartoon ad hides the launch date

Grand Theft Auto VI's fake brands have moved onto real streets. Ads for the game's parody companies have gone up on billboards, kiosks and at least one building around Miami over the past week, photographed by fans and reported by gaming news sites. Rockstar hasn't announced them.

The jokes are pure GTA. And one of the ads slips in the launch date: a cartoon called Macca & Friends, "coming November 19 on Weazel."

What's been spotted

Kiosk ads, Oct. 20. The X account OfficialJoelF posted photos of kiosk ads for Pfister, Kowalski, Kronos and the Vice City Manatees, plus a Weazel News van, Insider Gaming reported. The taglines are classic Rockstar double meanings: Pfister's says "Go Topless," Kowalski's "Suddenly You Are Big Enough," and Kronos's "Always Come Early." Pfister is the series' parody of Porsche.

Downtown billboards, Oct. 24. Photos posted to the r/GTA6 subreddit showed four more ads around downtown Miami, Output Lag reported:

• A multi-story building wrap for a lipstick brand called Dix, with the line "These are Dix lips" and a QR code in the corner.
• A billboard for Juice Loose, with a smiling orange mascot and the slogan "Keeping America on the move!"
• A cartoon ad for Macca & Friends, "coming November 19 on Weazel."
• A black "Welcome to Vice City" billboard outside the Kaseya Center, home of the Miami HEAT.

Output Lag says the boards are Clear Channel billboards, and that each carries the game's Vice City script mark.

Macca and the launch date

Weazel is the media company of the Grand Theft Auto world. Macca is a GTA 6 character Rockstar has already named: Macca the Gator is the star of a hit Leonida TV show, and he appears on merchandise in Rockstar's Goodtime State collector's box. The Miami ad presents his show the way a real network would, with a premiere date that happens to be the day GTA 6 comes out.

Part of a bigger Miami campaign

The ads join Rockstar's other promotions in the city:

• The rooftop sign. A pink "Welcome to Vice City" sign has stood on the Kaseya Center's roof since Sept. 22, under a $975,000 deal with Miami-Dade County, Fortune reported. The county's commissioners have since argued about going further: see our Miami-Dade story.
• Burger Shot and Cluckin' Bell. The arena now lists "Vice City Concessions" on its food page; our story has the menu.
• A Night in Vice City. The HEAT play the Milwaukee Bucks as "Vice City" on Nov. 18, the eve of launch. Our story has the details.

Output Lag also reports fan sightings of GTA 6 ads in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. We haven't been able to check those.

GTA 6 comes out Nov. 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Our Vice City guide covers the game's version of the city, and our library of businesses lists every company Rockstar has confirmed for Leonida.