Is the issue with the in-game ad the ad itself or because it's CDPR behind it and so people assume it's insincere?
Bit of both, but probably primarily the latter. Anyone who knows enough about Cyberpunk will know of the sexual diversity, how the world doesn't care for anyone modding their body, including their genitals (which could imply size modification), and that sexual expression, in general, will be far less repressed than it is now. One of the tweet replies I seen was taken from the Cyberpunk manual of 1995 and it depicted a character you could assume was gender fluid or at least you couldn't say for certain unless they themselves stated, and there was a penis bulge. Though, a little less dramatic than what appears to be an erect cock here. The obsession that humanity has had with cocks, or phallic structures, is well documented. Even now when you get Clive Barker depicting hell, it's always demons/humanoids with massive cocks. Or when people draw hentai/furry art or whatever the "fantasy" depiction is, there is nearly always a massive cock. There's some genuinely serious study
somewhere that
probably goes through history and documents and argues as to why humans have had such an obsession with the penis being represented as a large, dominant power structure. I guess in part that is part of the patriarchy. The fucking Greeks/Romans were drawing big cocks on everything too, and everyone knows parts of Greek/Roman culture was probably even more fluid than what we have now.
Even if CDPR say it's relevant to the word of 2077 and Mike Pondsmith himself backs the swearing, sex, imagery and so on, the doubt will be CDPR are only doing all of this to mock people. You take our current day sensibilities and sensitivities and apply them to this make-believe world. While that itself is quite normal to do, given that even if you approach something as of another time or make-believe it
could still upset or trigger bad memories for you. Just knowing that its acting or relevant to that world, doesn't mean everyone can then shrug it off. Like someone watching Deadwood and not being able to handle it due to all the swearing. I would never say you're
wrong to feel like that. But I would say the context and intent matter, because something being created just to mock people is not the same as something being as it is because that's reality in that world.
If people want an actual conversation about why this could be a depiction of a penis (it almost certainly is, unless it's going to be rolled out as some "hidden" bomb mod or something daft like that), it is relevant to seat it in 2077 and how people are then, not how people are in real-life earth in 2019. Expressing concern right now is understandable, but this world and game are going to be a hell of a culture war.
What do I mean by that? Well, besides the issues CDPR bring on themselves from social media behaviour casting doubt on them being fit for this world, a lot of the right-wing media that is currently shouting about "censorship" and "overly sensitive people", are probably going to be in for a treat when they actually play the game. Why? Because I still remain optimistic the content of the game itself is going to be very in-line with Cyberpunk, which means people having sex with who they want without judgement, gender identity being fluid and accepted, people modifying all parts of their body with implants and technology, even genitalia, and imagery all around the world which leans into that without any shame or concern. So the Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve kinds of bigots who fight in these battles online are probably going to get put in uncomfortable positions for their own ideologies when it comes to actually playing this and not just posting shit on twitter about lefties overreacting.
You see, irrespective of some thinking Cyberpunk means everyone evolves and doesn't swear or use coarse language, but says jinkies and yikes, that's just not that this world. This world is less censorious than what we even live in just now. It's punk gone mainstream. The same applies to sexual fluidity and the concepts of male and female, they aren't even anywhere near as rigid as they are in 2019. So while you can express concerns CDPR are handling this world, I think a lot of people of all different persuasions right now might get a shock on how things actually are in-game. At least, CDPR won't be the kind of dev to hold back depicting things as the world suggests. PEGI and the ESRB will have their work cut out for them. I understand crudeness and being explicit don't necessarily mean being faithful or doing it well, but inherently this world is crude and explicit. Irrespective of 2019 sensibilities.
You know, the kinds of sensibilities that have MS censoring swear words at E3.
