For Release: December 5, 2001 FTC Releases
Second Follow-Up Report on the Marketing of Violent Entertainment to Children
Motion Picture and Electronic Game
Industries Have Demonstrated Commendable Progress; Recording Industry Has Not Changed
Target Marketing Practices, But Has Made Improvements in Other Areas
The Federal Trade Commission today released a follow-up
report to its September 2000 Report, Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children: A
Review of Self-Regulation and Industry Practices in the Motion Picture, Music Recording
& Electronic Game Industries. The Report responds to a request from Senators John
McCain (R-AZ), Ernest Hollings (D-SC), Max Cleland (D-GA), and Sam Brownback (R-KS) of the
Senate Commerce Committee. The senators requested that the Commission examine whether the
entertainment media industries continue to advertise violent R-rated movies,
explicit-content labeled music, and M-rated electronic games in popular teen media and
whether they are including rating information in their advertising.
To prepare this Report, the Commission tracked advertising
placement in media popular with youth and reviewed advertisements in all media - print,
television, radio, and the Internet - to determine whether the advertisements include
clear and prominent rating and labeling information. In addition, the Commission reviewed
internal company documents provided by nine individual industry members, including
marketing plans for certain R-rated movies, explicit-content labeled music, and M-rated
games released since the Commission's September 2000 Report.
The Report indicates that the motion picture and electronic
game industries have "made commendable progress in limiting their advertising to
children of R-rated movies and M-rated games and in providing rating information in
advertising." The Commission's review of ad placements by the music industry,
however, found that "it has continued to advertise explicit content recordings in
most popular teen venues in all media," although there were "improvements in the
music industry's disclosure of parental advisory label information in its
advertising."
The Report also points to a number of companies in each
industry that have adopted best practices that go beyond the industry self-regulatory
programs.
Some key findings about each industry's marketing of
violent entertainment material include:
- Movies: The Commission's review of studio
marketing plans for six violent R-rated and three violent PG-13-rated films revealed no
express targeting of either R-rated films to children under 17, or PG-13-rated films to
children under 13. In reviewing marketing practices, the Commission found no ads for
R-rated movies in popular teen magazines and little promotion of R-rated films in
locations popular with teens. Its check of trailers for R-rated movies revealed none were
shown before G- and PG-rated feature films.
The one popular teen venue where studios continued to
advertise R-rated films was television. The Motion Picture Association of America has set
no specific limits on ad placements, and though some, but not all, studios have announced
they will not advertise R-rated movies in venues with a 35 percent or more youth audience
share, this threshold permits continued advertising on the programs with the largest
number of teen viewers.
The Commission found that the movie industry has made real
progress in disclosing rating information in its advertising. Studios now routinely
disclose both ratings and reasons for ratings in their television, print, radio, outdoor,
and online advertisements - a significant improvement since the September 2000 Report.
Although the Commission identified a number of studios that have done a good job in making
their disclosures clear and conspicuous, it also found that a significant percentage of
rating reasons were not readable.
- Music: Marketing documents for 13
explicit-content labeled recordings included plans for extensive advertising in the most
popular teen venues - television, radio, print, and online. In the music industry's view,
advertising targeted to all ages is consistent with its parental advisory labeling program
which, unlike the rating programs for movies and electronic games, does not specifically
designate an age for which labeled music may be inappropriate.
Regarding the disclosure of parental advisory label
information in its advertising, the Commission found that recording companies increasingly
are complying with recently
announced industry-wide guidelines that the parental
advisory be included in all advertising of explicit-content labeled recordings. Although a
promising start and a clear improvement since the September 2000 Report, continued efforts
will be needed to achieve widespread compliance.
Because the industry's labeling program does not call for
providing the reasons for the labels, such information is not part of the labeling or
advertising disclosures.
- Games: For the electronic game industry,
the Commission found continued positive steps to limit ad placements for M-rated games in
popular teen media. The Commission found little advertising on popular teen television
programs. However, in its review of marketing documents for 14 violent M-rated games, the
Commission found that all planned at least some ad placements in media venues popular with
teens; two expressly targeted an under-17 audience. The Commission also found continued
placements of advertising for M-rated games in youth-oriented magazines and popular teen
Web sites.
The Commission found that the game industry has made
substantial progress in providing accurate and prominent rating information in
advertising. With a revised game industry code now in place that strengthens and clarifies
disclosure requirements across all media, there remain only a few key areas where the code
and compliance need strengthening.
- Undercover Shopper Survey: For this Report,
the Commission again conducted an undercover "mystery" shopper survey, as it did
for the September 2000 Report, to determine whether unaccompanied 13- to -16-year-olds
could purchase tickets to R-rated movies, explicit-content labeled recordings, and M-rated
games. The survey was designed to assess any changes made in response to the Commission's
recommendation in the September 2000 Report that all three industries improve their
self-regulatory efforts by increasing retail level compliance by, for example, requiring
identification or parental permission for sales to children. The results indicate that
unlike the commendable progress by the movie and electronic game producers, retailers have
made few changes since the first survey. Nearly half (48 percent) of the theaters sold
tickets to R-rated movies to the underage moviegoers, while 90 percent of the music
retailers sold explicit-content recordings to the underage shoppers; neither of these
results represents a significant change from the practices documented in the first survey.
Electronic game retailers showed modest improvement in restricting the purchase of M-rated
games compared to last year, with 78 percent allowing shoppers to purchase M-rated games
(compared to 85 percent earlier).
The Commission approved the Report by a 5-0 vote.
Commissioner Orson Swindle issued a concurring statement http://www.ftc.gov/os/2001/12/swindleviolstmnt.htm
in which he emphasizes the lack of serious attention by the
music industry and retailers to the Commission's recommendations in its two earlier
reports and urges Congress, parents, and the general public to persuade the music industry
and retailers to change their behavior. |