Addendum: Ratings programs

Phillip Taylor
First Amendment Center

The Recording Industry Association of America's Parental Advisory Program

Because the Parental Advisory Program is voluntary, the RIAA offers its members no recommendation or guidelines in determining which recordings require the parental advisory logo.

If a member company decides to place the logo on a recording, it's required to use the standard black-and-white image reading PARENTAL ADVISORY: EXPLICIT CONTENT. The logo, smaller than 1-inch square, must be placed under the shrinkwrap and on the front of the packaging of the CD, cassette, album or video cassette.

The Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Rating Board

A voluntary program started in 1968, the Classification and Rating Administration Board consists of about a dozen anonymous parents in California who view as many as 500 films each year.

After viewing a movie, the board determines its rating — G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 — through majority vote.

Producers or distributors displeased with a rating may appeal the decision to a 14- to 18-member appeals board consisting of film industry personnel and executives. A two-thirds vote of the board is required to overturn the rating board's decision.

Producers or distributors may choose to distribute movies without ratings or with their own ratings as long as they don't use ones similar to the MPAA's registered trademarks.

According to MPAA President Jack Valenti, these are the general guidelines the rating board follows:

  • G: General Audiences. All ages admitted. Contains nothing in theme, language, violence, etc. that would be offensive to parents whose younger children see the film. Some snippets of language may go beyond polite conversation, but they are common expressions. No stronger words are present. Violence is at a minimum. Nudity, sex scenes and drug use are not present.

  • PG: Parental Guidance Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children. May contain adult themes, some profanity, violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned. Contains no drug-use scenes.

  • PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. Contains more intensity than a PG film in theme, violence, nudity, sex, language or other elements, but not intense enough to require an R. Any drug-use content usually requires at least a PG-13. If nudity is sexual or violence is rough or persistent, the film usually gets an R. With regard to profanity, the board pays particular attention to one of the harsher sexually derived words. One use as an expletive requires a PG-13; more than one expletive use or any use in a sexual context requires an R, though these films can be rated less severely by special vote.

  • R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. Contains adult material. May include hard language, graphic violence, sensual nudity, drug abuse or some combination of those.

  • NC-17: No one 17 and under admitted. No children can be admitted. Contains patently adult material, such as violence, sex, drug abuse or aberrational behavior that most parents would consider off-limits to children.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board

The Entertainment Software Rating Board, created by the Interactive Digital Software Association, consists of three specially trained raters who assign letter ratings and content descriptors for games for personal computers, home video systems and the Internet.

The rating categories include:

EC — Early Childhood — content suitable for ages 3 and older.
E — Everyone — content suitable for ages 6 and older.
T — Teen — content suitable for ages 13 and older.
M — Mature — content suitable for ages 17 and older.
AO — Adults Only — content suitable only for adults.
RP — Rating Pending.

The content descriptors include: comic mischief, mild violence, violence, graphic violence, nudity, suggestive themes, mature sexual themes, strong sexual content, mild language, strong language, hate speech, strong hate speech, informational and edutainment.

Coin-Operated Video Game Parental Advisory System

Devised by the American Amusement Machine Association, these ratings include "suitable for all ages" and mild or strong marks in categories including animated violence, lifelike violence, sexual content and language.

All new coin-operated video games carry this Parental Advisory Disclosure Message either in the artwork of the game or on a color-coded sticker on the machine.