FTC report: Entertainment industry markets violent material to youth
By The Associated Press
09.11.00
Printer-friendly page
WASHINGTON — The movie, video game and music industries
aggressively market to underage youths violent products that carry adult
ratings, federal regulators say.
A report released today by the Federal Trade Commission says that even
movies rated R — which require an adult to accompany children under 17 to
the theater — and video games that carry an M rating for 17 and over are
routinely targeted toward younger people.
Democratic presidential nominee
Al Gore seized the issue for his
campaign, calling for a voluntary "cease-fire" in marketing inappropriate
material to children and threatening federal action if the industry fails to
respond.
The FTC pointed to materials submitted by the industry, showing
intentional plans to promote its products to underage audiences. One document
disclosed that a company's target audience for M-rated video games was boys
12-17. Despite the age rating, "the younger the audience, the more likely they
are to be influenced by TV advertising," the document said. A marketing plan
for an R-rated movie stated its purpose was to "make sure everyone between the
ages of 12-18 was exposed to the film." Company names were edited out.
"It's their documents. They knew what they were doing," said FTC
Chairman Robert Pitofsky.
President Clinton, who commissioned the investigation, challenged the
entertainment industry to be responsive.
"The American people will give, I think, the entertainment industry a
period now to fix this but something has to be done," Clinton said, during a
campaign-style appearance in Scarsdale, N.Y., with his wife, Hillary, who is
running for the Senate. "They say these rating systems mean something. They
can't turn around and advertise to people that shouldn't see this stuff."
The commission is not pressing for more legislation, walking a careful
line not to trigger First Amendment concerns. But the FTC wants the industry to
expand voluntary codes prohibiting such practices and to sanction companies
that run afoul of these guidelines.
Gore and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, said that if
elected, they would propose legislation or a new regulatory authority to
sanction the entertainment industry if it didn't stop marketing violence to
children within six months.
"If the industry makes a promise not to market inappropriate material
to children but then does so, it could be guilty of false advertising," they
said in a statement.
Ari Fleischer, spokesman for Republican presidential nominee George W.
Bush, said the Texas governor "believes the entertainment industry has to take
personal responsibility for the products it provides to our children. And
parents also have a role to play. We're all in this together."
Pitofsky has asked his staff to study whether laws governing deceptive
and unfair trade practices would apply and if enforcement action could be
brought against companies, if the behavior continues.
The movie and video game industries have voluntary age-based rating
code systems. The recording industry has a more general label that warns of
explicit content in music.
Of 44 R-rated movies studied by the FTC, 35 were targeted to children
under 17. Of 118 games carrying an M rating, 83 targeted children under 17 and
all of the 55 music recordings with explicit-content labels were targeted to
children under 17.
The Senate Commerce Committee plans a hearing on the report Sept.
13.
Industry leaders questioned what conclusions the government could draw
from scrutinizing Hollywood.
"If we are causing moral decay in this country, we ought to have an
explosion of crime," Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of
America, said yesterday. "The exact opposite is happening."
He argued that any evaluation of the marketing practices of
moviemakers could only be subjective and praised Hollywood's voluntary rating
system.
"For almost 32 years, this industry has been the only segment of our
national marketplace that voluntarily turns away revenues at the box office to
redeem the pledge that we have made to parents," Valenti said.
Video game makers stress that more than 70% of their customers are
over 18. According to the Interactive Digital Software Association, the
industry trade group, adults buy nine of every 10 video and computer games sold
in the United States. Only 7% of video games sold and rated since 1995 fall
into the mature category.
But public interest groups said the new study could expose efforts by
the industries to circumvent their own labeling system. For example, creating
children's toys based on an R-rated movie enables the industry "to go right
ahead in a very surreptitious way to market to kids," said Kathryn Montgomery,
president of the Center for Media Education.
Update
FTC to Congress: First Amendment would limit media-violence crackdown
Lawmakers should consider legislative remedies only if entertainment industry fails to step up self-regulation efforts, commission says.
11.22.00
Previous
FTC nearing release of report detailing marketing of violent material to youth
Meanwhile, free-speech advocates debunk theories that causal link exists between entertainment, real violence.
08.29.00
Related
FTC: Music industry still marketing adult fare to kids
But agency reports movie, video game companies have made 'commendable progress' in not targeting children with violent, sexually explicit advertising.
12.06.01
Lawmakers argue for more-descriptive music ratings
But recording industry representative tells House subcommittee that going beyond current labeling system could infringe on artists' free-speech rights.
07.23.01
Hollywood directors push for rating-system overhaul
Guild says industry must develop system that can be applied to all entertainment media, adopt zero tolerance toward underage admission to mature material.
09.19.00
Gore to Oprah: Entertainment industry needs to clean up its act
Democratic presidential nominee blasts violent movies, video games marketed to children in appearance on Winfrey's talk show.
09.11.00
Lieberman condemns 'culture of carnage' at Senate hearing on media violence
Lawmakers use occasion to accuse entertainment executives and to criticize them for failing to show up to defend themselves.
09.13.00
Lawmakers blast marketing efforts of entertainment industry
Sen. John McCain leads committee hearing echoing FTC report’s claim that companies ‘routinely’ market violent products to kids.
09.14.00
Free-speech advocates find Lieberman's record a mixed bag
Al Gore's running mate has opposed flag protection measures but is at forefront of campaign to label entertainment violence.
08.10.00
A panic of biblical proportions over media violence
Ombudsman Have you heard the one about '1,000 studies linking media to violence'? They don't exist.
08.21.00
FTC probes entertainment industry's sale of violence to kids
'We're examining the self-regulation put in place by the entertainment industry to see if it works and how it works,' says agency official.
04.27.00
Pinning a label on violence in media
Ombudsman Someone should be keeping track of all the proposals coming out of Congress to regulate what the rest of us can see, hear and say. It is a long and scary list.
06.23.00
