FTC violent games, movies, study
p2pnet.net news:- Hollywood and the members of the Big 4 music cartel are always at pains to claim they’re doing their absolute best to make sure children are protected from dangerous music and movies sleaze and violence.
But a new FTC report, a follow up to a major study released in 2000, says that ain’t necessarily so
Back in 2000, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had just released, Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A Review of Self-Regulation and Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries.
“I think that it is hypocritical for the music industry to claim that it is helping parents by placing a parental advisory [explicit content] label on a CD, while at the same time undermining parents by aggressively marketing the same CD to children,” said Federal Trade Commissioner Orson Swindle in a 2001 look-back. Of 55 music recordings with explicit content labels the FTC reviewed, it found all 55 were aimed at children under 17 and in a magnificent example of the art of imparting spin, “The Recording Industry has made tremendous progress in our campaign to inform parents about the Parental Advisory,” responded then RIAA boss Hilary Rosen, going on:
“Surveys show that public education is what parents care most about and we are confident in our success in this area. We are heartened that the Federal Trade Commission’s report did reflect the many steps we have taken and the progress we have made to strengthen our program.”
In its fifth follow-up report, the FTC found, “the entertainment industries continue to market some R-rated movies, M-rated video games, and explicit-content recordings on television shows and Web sites with substantial teen audiences.”
In the 2000 report, video game retailers received a pat on the back, and they’ve made, “significant progress in limiting sales of M-rated games to children,” says the FTC.
But, “This latest FTC report shows improvement, but also indicates that the entertainment industry has more work to do,” says FTC chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras.
The report includes results from the FTC’s latest mystery shop where unaccompanied children, aged 13-16, were sent into retailers to make a purchase and, the undercover kids found, “little or no improvement by movie theaters, or DVD and music retailers,” says the study.
It also suggests the music industry, “provide more information on packaging and in advertising about why certain recordings receive a Parental Advisory”.
The report singles out for special mention Hollywood’s practice of marketing and selling unrated or ‘Director‘s Cut’ DVD versions of R-rated movies, “which may contain content that could warrant an even more restrictive rating” and “undermines the current self-regulatory system”.
It recommends that the video game industry place content descriptors on the front of product packaging and research, “why many parents believe that the system could do a better job of informing them about the level of violence in some games”.
And for the first time, the FTC tracked trends in viral marketing, including taking a look at MySpace and YouTube.
“Advertisers often set up profile pages with industry-generated content or uploaded videos for users to then share on their own, such as posting music to their own profile page or emailing videos to friends,” says the report, noting, “few profile pages contain prominent rating information. Although they are general audience sites, they reach a large number of children under 17.”
The report also mentions “challenges” posed by mobile phone game developers who, “often do not seek ESRB ratings and they do not sell their products through traditional retail channels, instead licensing their products directly to wireless carriers”.
Movies
Although there is no industry-wide standard, several individual movie studios have adopted guidelines restricting advertising on television shows where the under-17 audience is more than 35%. The study found a few examples of R-rated movies and unrated DVD advertisements on television shows where the under-17 audience exceeded 35%, but most television ads were placed on shows that fell under this threshold. Nevertheless, the report notes that a 35% standard still permits advertising on the vast majority of shows most popular with teens. Currently, there are no movie industry standards for Internet advertising, and the report notes violent R-rated movies were routinely advertised on Web sites popular with kids: 18 of the 20 movies studied by the Commission were advertised on Web sites where more than a third of the audience was under 17. The increasing prevalence of marketing unrated DVDs containing content that might warrant an NC-17 rating, coupled with the poor performance of retailers in restricting the sales of such DVDs to unaccompanied children, is a particular cause for concern.
Music
Because the music labeling system is not age-based, the industry has no specific restrictions on advertising explicit-content labeled music in media popular with children. The report notes that ads for explicit-content music routinely aired on cable television shows and Web sites with a teen audience of 40% or more. The industry also needs to do a better job of displaying the explicit-content logo in television advertising. On the plus side, the industry continues to refrain from significant advertising in magazines popular with teens, a practice that was prevalent when the Commission published its initial report in September 2000.
Video Games
Although ads for M-rated video games on television shows that are popular with teens appear to be diminishing, the same is not true for Internet advertising. Currently, the ESRB prohibits ads for M-rated games on Web sites where the under-17 audience is 45% or more. The report suggests that the ESRB is not adequately enforcing even this limited standard. The video game industry generally provides clear and prominent disclosure of rating information in advertising; however, the ESRB has not adopted the Commission’s previous recommendation that content descriptors for games be placed on the front of game packaging. The Commission’s survey of parents and children on their awareness and use of the video game ratings system showed an overall positive picture of the game rating system: 87% of parents surveyed said they are aware of the ESRB system, more than seven in ten use it when their child wants to play a game for the first time, and three quarters of the parents who are familiar with the content descriptors use them. However, many parents still believe the system can do more to inform them about the level of violence in some games.
Also See:
undermining parents – Wal-Mart sued over ‘f’ word, December 11, 2004
imparting spin – p2pnet RIAA survey: online now, April 6, 2007
FTC – FTC Issues Report on Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children, April 12, 2007
‘Director‘s Cut’ DVD – Unrated DVDs vs cinemas, March 20, 2007
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April 15th, 2007 at 7:17 am
“But, “This latest FTC report shows improvement, but also indicates that the entertainment industry has more work to do,” says FTC chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras.”
Wrong. It is not the entertainment industry that has to do more work. The entertainment industry is not elected by the people, so it owes nothing to the people who, to the entertainment industry are just sucker customers who are fed entertaiment crap much of the time.
It is the govenment that has more work to do. It is the government that is supposed to work for the people.
Of course, the problem is that to much of the government, the people are just sucker voters.
Here in Puerto Rico we had an official referendum. The people voted (84% in favor) in favor of having a one chamber legislature, Now the current two chamber lehgislatures refuses to follow what the people ordered and the courts refuse to intervene. This travesty of democrary is taking place in an american territory. Yes we are just sucker voters.
And the american and world press? They are too busy with Hollywood stories.
Rafael Venegas
gvenegas.com