# MARKETING VIOLENT ENTERTAINMENT

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URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/agency%3Aftc%3A9f77b08242661283

## Record

- **Collection:** Agency decision
- **Document type:** Agency decision

## Text

MARKETING VIOLENT ENTERTAINMENT
TO CHILDREN:
A REVIEW OF SELF-REGULATION AND
INDUSTRY PRACTICES IN THE MOTION
PICTURE, MUSIC RECORDING &
ELECTRONIC GAME INDUSTRIES

REPORT OF THE
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
SEPTEMBER 2000

Federal Trade Commission
Robert Pitofsky,
Sheila F. Anthony
Mozelle W. Thompson
Orson Swindle
Thomas B. Leary

Chairman
Commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner
Commissioner

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
I.

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
A.
President’s June 1, 1999 Request for a Study and the FTC’s
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
B.
Public Concerns About Entertainment Media Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
C.
Overview of the Commission’s Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Focus on Self-Regulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Structure of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

II.

THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATORY SYSTEM . . . . . . . 4
A.
Scope of Commission’s Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
B.
Operation of the Motion Picture Self-Regulatory System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.
The rating process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.
Review of advertising for content and rating information . . . . . . . . . 8
C.
Issues Not Addressed by the Motion Picture Self-Regulatory System . . . . . . . 10
1.
Accessibility of reasons for ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.
Advertising placement standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

III.

MARKETING MOVIES TO CHILDREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
A.
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
B.
Marketing R-Rated and PG-13-Rated Films to Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.
Television advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
R-rated films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
PG-13-rated films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.
Trailers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.
Promotional and “street marketing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
R-rated films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
PG-13-rated films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.
Radio and print advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
5.
Internet marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
C.
Box Office Enforcement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
D.
Retailing of Movie Videos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

IV.

THE MUSIC RECORDING INDUSTRY PARENTAL ADVISORY
LABELING PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
A.
Scope of Commission’s Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
B.
Operation of the Music Recording Labeling Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.
The labeling process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.
The use of the advisory label on packaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.
“Clean” versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
C.
Issues Not Addressed by the Music Recording Labeling Program . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.
Access to important information about explicit recordings . . . . . . . . 26
2.
The placement of an advisory on digital music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.
Advertising disclosure and placement standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
D.
Recent Changes to the Music Recording Labeling Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

V.

MARKETING MUSIC RECORDINGS TO CHILDREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
A.
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
B.
Marketing Explicit Content Recordings to Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1.
Print advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.
Television promotions – cable music channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3.
Other television advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.
Internet marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.
Street marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
6.
Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
7.
Licensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
C.
Retailing of Music Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

VI.

THE ELECTRONIC GAME INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATORY SYSTEM . . . . 36
A.
Scope of Commission’s Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
B.
Operation of the Electronic Game Self-Regulatory System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.
The rating process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.
Requirements for packaging, advertising, and marketing . . . . . . . . . 39
a.
Disclosure of rating information on product
packaging and in advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
b.
Limits on violent content in advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
c.
Limits on marketing to minors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

VII.

MARKETING ELECTRONIC GAMES TO CHILDREN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
A.
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
B.
Marketing M-Rated Games to Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
1.
Print advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.
Television advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.
Internet marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
C.
Marketing T-Rated Games to Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
D.
Licensing Products Based on M- and T-Rated Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
E.
Retailing of Electronic Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

VIII. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Industry should establish or expand codes that prohibit target marketing and
impose sanctions for violations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Industry should improve self-regulatory system compliance at the retail level . . . . 55
Industry should increase parental awareness of the ratings and labels . . . . . . . . . . 55
ENDNOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

APPENDIX A:

A Review of Research on the Impact of Violence in Entertainment
Media

APPENDIX B:

Children as Consumers of Entertainment Media: Media Usage,
Marketing Behavior and Influences, and Ratings Effects

APPENDIX C:

First Amendment Issues in Public Debate over Governmental
Regulation of Entertainment Media Products with Violent Content

APPENDIX D:

An Overview of the Entertainment Media Industries and the
Development of Their Rating and Labeling Systems

APPENDIX E:

Entertainment Industry Information Requests

APPENDIX F:

Mystery Shopper Survey and Parent-Child Survey

APPENDIX G:

Third-Party Views and Suggestions for Improvement of the
Entertainment Media Rating and Labeling Systems

APPENDIX H:

Entertainment Media Rating Information and Self-Regulatory Efforts
on the Internet

APPENDIX I:

Television, Print, and Online Demographics

APPENDIX J:

Electronic Game Industry Compliance with Self-Regulatory Code
Requirements to Disclose Rating Information on Product Packaging,
in Advertising, and Online

APPENDIX K:

Application of Antitrust Principles to Voluntary Industry Efforts to
Restrict Marketing and Sales of Entertainment Media Products to
Children

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On June 1, 1999, President Clinton asked the Federal Trade Commission and the
Department of Justice to undertake a study of whether the movie, music recording, and computer
and video game industries market and advertise products with violent content to youngsters. The
President’s request paralleled Congressional calls for such a study. The President raised two
specific questions: Do the industries promote products they themselves acknowledge warrant
parental caution in venues where children make up a substantial percentage of the audience?
And are these advertisements intended to attract children and teenagers?

For all three segments of the entertainment industry, the answers are plainly “yes.”

Although the motion picture, music recording and electronic game industries have taken
steps to identify content that may not be appropriate for children, companies in those industries
routinely target children under 17 as the audience for movies, music and games that their own
rating or labeling systems say are inappropriate for children or warrant parental caution due to
their violent content. Moreover, children under 17 frequently are able to buy tickets to R-rated
movies without being accompanied by an adult and can easily purchase music recordings and
electronic games that have a parental advisory label or are restricted to an older audience. The
practice of pervasive and aggressive marketing of violent movies, music and electronic games to
children undermines the credibility of the industries’ ratings and labels. Such marketing also
frustrates parents’ attempts to make informed decisions about their children’s exposure to violent
content.
For years – over backyard fences and water coolers, on talk radio and in academic
journals – parents, social scientists, criminologists, educators, policymakers, health care
providers, journalists and others have struggled to understand how and why some children turn to
violence. The dialogues took on new urgency with the horrifying school shooting on April 20,
1999, in Littleton, Colorado.
Scholars and observers generally have agreed that exposure to violence in entertainment
media alone does not cause a child to commit a violent act and that it is not the sole, or even
necessarily the most important, factor contributing to youth aggression, anti-social attitudes and

violence. Nonetheless, there is widespread agreement that it is a cause for concern. The
Commission’s literature review reveals that a majority of the investigations into the impact of
media violence on children find that there is a high correlation between exposure to media
violence and aggressive, and at times violent, behavior. In addition, a number of research efforts
report that exposure to media violence is correlated with increased acceptance of violent behavior
in others, as well as an exaggerated perception of the amount of violence in society.
For their part, the entertainment industries have recognized these concerns and taken
steps to alert parents to violent or explicit content through self-regulatory product rating or
labeling programs. Self-regulation by these industries is especially important considering the
First Amendment protections that prohibit government regulation of content in most instances.
The self-regulatory programs of the motion picture, music recording and electronic game
industries each address violence, as well as sexual content, language, drug use and other explicit
content that may be of concern to parents. In keeping with the President’s request, the
Commission focused on the marketing of entertainment products designated as violent under
these systems. In its analysis, the Commission accepted each industry’s determination of
whether a particular motion picture, music recording or electronic game contains violent content;
the Commission did not examine the content itself.
The motion picture industry uses a rating board to rate virtually all movies released in the
United States, requires the age-related rating to appear in advertising and makes some effort to
review ads for rated movies to ensure that their content is suitable for general audiences. The
music recording industry recommends the use of a general parental advisory label on music with
“explicit content.” The decision to place a parental advisory label on a recording is made by the
artist and the music publishing company and involves no independent third-party review; nor
does the industry provide for any review of marketing and advertising. In late August 2000, the
recording industry trade association recommended that recording companies not advertise
explicit-content labeled recordings in media outlets with a majority under-17 audience. The
electronic game industry requires games to be labeled with age- and content-based rating
information and requires that the rating information appear in advertising. Only the electronic

ii

game industry has adopted a rule prohibiting its marketers from targeting advertising for games
to children below the age designations indicated by the rating.
The Commission carefully examined the structure of these rating and labeling systems,
and studied how these self-regulatory systems work in practice. The Commission found that
despite the variations in the three industries’ systems, the outcome is consistent: individual
companies in each industry routinely market to children the very products that have the
industries’ own parental warnings or ratings with age restrictions due to their violent content.
Indeed, for many of these products, the Commission found evidence of marketing and media
plans that expressly target children under 17. In addition, the companies’ marketing and media
plans showed strategies to promote and advertise their products in the media outlets most likely
to reach children under 17, including those television programs ranked as the “most popular”
with the under-17 age group, such as Xena: Warrior Princess, South Park and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer; magazines and Internet sites with a majority or substantial (i.e., over 35 percent) under-17
audience, such as Game Pro, Seventeen and Right On!, as well as mtv.com, ubl.com and
happypuppy.com; and teen hangouts, such as game rooms, pizza parlors and sporting apparel
stores.
Movies. Of the 44 movies rated R for violence the Commission selected for its study, the
Commission found that 35, or 80 percent, were targeted to children under 17. Marketing plans
for 28 of those 44, or 64 percent, contained express statements that the film’s target audience
included children under 17. For example, one plan for a violent R-rated film stated, “Our goal
was to find the elusive teen target audience and make sure everyone between the ages of 12-18
was exposed to the film.” Though the marketing plans for the remaining seven R-rated films did
not expressly identify an under-17 target audience, they led the Commission to conclude that
children under 17 were targeted nonetheless. That is, the plans were either extremely similar to
the plans of the films that did identify an under-17 target audience, or they detailed actions
synonymous with targeting that age group, such as promoting the film in high schools or in
publications with majority under-17 audiences.
Music. Of the 55 music recordings with explicit content labels the Commission selected
for its study, marketing plans for 15, or 27 percent, expressly identified teenagers as part of their
iii

target audience. One such plan, for instance, stated that its “Target audience” was
“Alternative/urban, rock, pop, hardcore – 12-34.” The marketing documents for the remaining
40 explicit-content labeled recordings examined did not expressly state the age of the target
audience, but they detailed the same methods of marketing as the plans that specifically
identified teens as part of their target audience, including placing advertising in media that would
reach a majority or substantial percentage of children under 17.
Games. Of the 118 electronic games with a Mature rating for violence the Commission
selected for its study, 83, or 70 percent, targeted children under 17. The marketing plans for 60
of these, or 51 percent, expressly included children under 17 in their target audience. For
example, one plan for a game rated Mature for its violent content described its “target audience”
as “Males 12-17 – Primary Males 18-34 – Secondary.” Another plan referred to the target
market as “Males 17-34 due to M rating (the true target is males 12-34).” Documents for the
remaining 23 games showed plans to advertise in magazines or on television shows with a
majority or substantial under-17 audience. Most of the plans that targeted an under-17 audience
set age 12 as the younger end of the spectrum, but a few plans for violent Mature-rated games
targeted children as young as six.
Further, most retailers make little effort to restrict children’s access to products with
violent content. Surveys conducted for the Commission in May through July 2000 found that
just over half the movie theaters admitted children ages 13 to 16 to R-rated films even when not
accompanied by an adult. The Commission’s surveys also indicate that unaccompanied children
have various strategies to see R-rated movies when theaters refuse to sell them tickets.
Additionally, the Commission’s surveys showed that unaccompanied children ages 13 to 16 were
able to buy both explicit content recordings and Mature-rated electronic games 85 percent of the
time.
Although consumer surveys show that parents value the existing rating and labeling
systems, they also show that parents’ use and understanding of the systems vary. The surveys
also consistently reveal high levels of parental concern about violence in the movies, music and
video games their children see, listen to and play. These concerns can only be heightened by the
extraordinary degree to which young people today are immersed in entertainment media, as well
iv

as by recent technological advances such as realistic and interactive video games. The survey
responses indicate that parents want and welcome help in identifying which entertainment
products might not be suitable for their children.
Since the President requested this study over a year ago, each of the industries reviewed
has taken positive steps to address these concerns. Nevertheless, the Commission believes that
all three industries should take additional action to enhance their self-regulatory efforts. The
industries should:
1. Establish or expand codes that prohibit target marketing to children and impose
sanctions for violations. All three industries should improve the usefulness of their ratings and
labels by establishing codes that prohibit marketing R-rated/M-rated/explicit-labeled products in
media or venues with a substantial under-17 audience. In addition, the Commission suggests that
each industry’s trade associations monitor and encourage their members’ compliance with these
policies and impose meaningful sanctions for non-compliance.
2. Increase compliance at the retail level. Restricting children’s retail access to
entertainment containing violent content is an essential complement to restricting the placement
of advertising. This can be done by checking identification or requiring parental permission
before selling tickets to R movies, and by not selling or renting products labeled “Explicit” or
rated R or M, to children.
3. Increase parental understanding of the ratings and labels. For parents to make
informed choices about their children’s entertainment, they must understand the ratings and the
labels, as well as the reasons for them. That means the industries should all include the reasons
for the rating or the label in advertising and product packaging and continue their efforts to
educate parents – and children – about the meanings of the ratings and descriptors. Industry
should also take steps to better educate parents about the ratings and labels.
The Commission emphasizes that its review and publication of this Report, and its
proposals to improve self-regulation, are not designed to regulate or even influence the content of
movies, music lyrics or electronic games. The First Amendment generally requires that creative
decisions about content be left to artists and their distributors. Rather, the Commission believes
the industries can do a better job of helping parents choose appropriate entertainment for their
v

children by providing clear and conspicuous notification of violent content. Industry selfregulation also should support parents’ decisions by prohibiting the direct sale and marketing to
children of products labeled as inappropriate or warranting parental guidance due to their violent
content.
Implementation of the specific suggestions outlined above would significantly improve
the present self-regulatory regimes. The Report demonstrates, however, that mere publication of
codes is not sufficient. Self-regulatory programs can work only if the concerned industry
associations actively monitor compliance and ensure that violations have consequences. The
Commission believes that continuous public oversight is also required and that Congress should
continue to monitor the progress of self-regulation in this area.

vi

I.

INTRODUCTION
A.

President’s June 1, 1999 Request for a Study and the FTC’s Response

On June 1, 1999, following the horrifying school shooting in Littleton, Colorado that
increased public calls for a national response to youth violence, President Clinton requested that
the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice conduct a study of whether the
motion picture, music recording, and computer and video game industries market and advertise
violent entertainment material to children and teenagers.1 Specifically, the President requested
that the study ascertain whether entertainment media products that the industries determine are
inappropriate for children or otherwise warrant a parental advisory due to their violent content
are promoted in media outlets for which children comprise a substantial percentage of the
audience. The President also urged the Commission to examine whether these advertisements
are intended to attract underage audiences. President Clinton’s request paralleled congressional
proposals for such a study.2
In response to the President’s request and Congress’s concerns, the FTC initiated this
study3 to obtain information regarding the three media industries’ self-regulation efforts and
marketing practices.* The Commission’s study is designed to provide information to three
critical groups of decision makers: (1) elected officials and policymakers, including the
President and Congress, who have raised concerns about this issue; (2) the entertainment media
industries, who develop and implement the existing self-regulatory systems; and (3) parents, who
are faced with the challenge of determining what is appropriate for their minor children.

B.

Public Concerns About Entertainment Media Violence

The Columbine High School shooting in Littleton heightened the public’s existing
concerns about violence committed by children.4 Although the rate of violence perpetrated by
young people has declined in the 1990's, the rate for murders committed by youths in the United
States is still substantially higher than in other industrialized countries.5 For the past few
decades, parents, social scientists, criminologists, educators, policymakers, health care providers,
* The Department of Justice provided funding and technical assistance to the FTC for this study,
but did not draft this report or its appendices. The analysis, recommendations, and opinions
expressed in this report and its appendices are those of the FTC, and do not necessarily represent
the positions or views of the Department of Justice.

journalists, and others have struggled to understand how and why children turn to violence.6
Following a plethora of news reports suggesting that the boys involved in the Columbine killings
were immersed in a violent entertainment subculture,7 many observers focused on the teenagers’
exposure to images of violence in entertainment media as a cause of the Columbine murders.8
While the entertainment media received a great deal of blame for youth violence in the
past year,9 most people agree that exposure to media violence alone does not cause a child to
commit a violent act. Although several major public health organizations recently voiced their
shared conviction that the viewing of entertainment media violence can lead to increases in
aggressive attitudes, values, and behavior in children,10 they also have acknowledged that it is not
the sole, or even necessarily the most important, factor contributing to youth aggression, antisocial attitudes, and violence.11 They, and the researchers and advocates who have studied youth
violence, posit that a range of other factors – such as child abuse and neglect, victimization,
bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, exposure to violence in the home, neurobiological indicators,
and low socioeconomic status – can interrelate to cause youth violence.12 Some observers focus
on children’s access to handguns as the cause for the high fatality rates associated with youth
violence in America.13 Others look for cultural explanations.14
Even those who disagree that media violence causes violent behavior, however, concede
that a child’s exposure to violence in the media can be a concern.15 Indeed, by including violence
as a component in developing their parental advisory labeling and rating systems, the
entertainment media have recognized that violence is an issue of societal concern.16 As Thom
Mount, president of the Producers Guild of America, acknowledged after Columbine: “It is not
that violent pictures create more violence, but the constant litany of gratuitous violence is
destructive of the fabric of the culture because it lowers our threshold for sensitivity to the
issue.”17

C.

Overview of the Commission’s Study

Focus on Self-Regulation: For decades, the FTC has recognized the important role that
self-regulation can serve in many industries and has worked with industry groups to develop
sound self-regulatory initiatives, including those involving industry advertising practices.18 A

2

well-constructed self-regulatory system can be more prompt, flexible, and effective than
government regulation, and can be especially appropriate when government intervention would
raise significant First Amendment concerns. The products studied in this Report % motion
pictures, music recordings, and computer and video games ("electronic games") % are forms of
expression protected under the First Amendment.19 Given that the concerns examined in this
Report stem from the violent content of some of these products, effective industry self-regulatory
responses are even more important and appropriate than in most other industries.
The Commission’s study of the motion picture, music recording, and electronic game
industries focused on the marketing of entertainment products designated as violent under the
self-regulatory systems currently in use by these industries.20 In its analysis, the Commission
accepted each industry’s determination of whether a particular motion picture, music recording,
or electronic game contains violent or explicit content.21

Structure of the Report: This Report examines: (1) the structure and scope of the rating
or labeling system that each industry uses to advise parents that its products contain violent
content that may be unsuitable for children, including whether the system discourages the
marketing or sale of violent products to minors; and (2) the actual practices of companies that
market or sell such violent entertainment to minors in light of these self-regulatory systems. To
answer the President’s questions of whether these products are advertised in media outlets for
which children comprise a substantial percentage of the audience and whether the advertisements
were intended to attract children, the Commission reviewed the entertainment industries’
marketing and media plans and considered their advertising placement strategies. For print and
online advertising, the Commission looked at whether advertising reached an audience of 35% or
more under 17. Consistent with industry marketing and media plans for television, the
Commission looked at advertising placement on those programs ranked as the “most popular”
with the under-17 age group, which includes those with the highest U.S. teen audience.
The Report suggests possible modifications to the existing self-regulatory systems to
improve their utility to parents, guardians, and other care-givers (“parents”) in achieving their
stated goal: to help parents make decisions about which entertainment products their children

3

should and should not view, listen to, or play. A number of appendices supplement the
information provided in the Report.

Sources: The sources for the Report include documents and other information (including
sample sound recordings, movie previews, electronic game demonstration disks, and magazine
and television advertisements) voluntarily submitted by over 60 companies in the motion picture,
music recording, and electronic game industries, including movie studios, theaters, recording
labels, game developers and publishers, retailers, and media outlets.22 The Report also is based
on voluntary submissions by and discussions with the major media industries’ trade associations
about their (and their members’) self-regulatory efforts.23 Much of the material that the industry
associations and companies submitted in response to the FTC’s requests contained confidential
commercial or financial information under relevant statutes and rules.24 Accordingly, this study
presents certain of the Commission’s findings in anonymous and/or aggregated form. In
addition, a substantial amount of information was provided by interested government agencies,
public health organizations, academics, and parent and consumer advocacy groups,25 as well as
consumers themselves through various surveys and polls including surveys designed and
conducted specifically for this study.26

II.

THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATORY SYSTEM
The basic mission of the rating system is a simple one: to offer parents some
advance information about movies so that parents can decide what movies they
want their children to see or not to see.
– Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America27
The Motion Picture
Association of America
15503 Ventura Boulevard
Encino, CA 91436
818.995.6600
www.mpaa.org

The motion picture rating system, which was
established in 1968 as a joint venture between the Motion
Picture Association of America (“MPAA”) and the
National Association of Theatre Owners (“NATO”), is
the longest-running of the self-regulatory systems the

Commission examined. It was crafted following a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions
4

upholding the power of states to regulate children’s access to materials protected by the First
Amendment.28 To curtail a proliferation of local censorship boards, the major film studios and
theaters created a single, nationwide rating system.
Although the system is voluntary, all MPAA member companies have agreed not to
distribute a film without a rating.29 As a result, the vast majority of films are rated. A high
percentage of parents are familiar with motion picture ratings (surveys show more than 90%
awareness30) and a large majority (more than 70%31) find the ratings useful.

A.

Scope of Commission’s Review

In examining the motion picture industry’s self-regulatory program and the marketing of
films to children, the Commission reviewed documents provided by the MPAA and its member
studios; NATO and its member theaters, as well as theater chains that do not belong to NATO;
and publicly available materials concerning the system.
More specifically, the Commission studied the marketing of 44 violent R-rated films and
20 violent PG-13-rated films distributed by nine major studios from 1995-1999.32 In selecting
these films, the Commission chose R- and PG-13-rated movies that the MPAA’s rating body had
determined should receive such a rating at least in part for violence, including films the industry
trade press had referred to as teen or children’s movies. Thus, these 64 films are not a random
sample of all violent R and PG-13 movies produced by the MPAA member studios over the
relevant time period.
The Commission studied “media plans,” which outline where the television, radio, print,
and Internet advertising was placed and describe the target audiences the studios intended the
advertising to reach; promotional reports for many of these films, which detail the vast array of
promotional activities used to generate consumer awareness and interest in a movie; and studio
research conducted on test audiences for the films and their advertising. The studios and the
theater chains also supplied trailer reports detailing which trailers preceded certain features.33

5

B.

Operation of the Motion Picture Self-Regulatory System
1.

The rating process

The motion picture industry has put in place a formalized rating system (including an
appeals process) that is designed to impose a measure of objectivity and consistency across the
broad array of subjects and styles encompassed by modern filmmaking. Although this system
has been criticized over the years,34 it has remained intact for more than 30 years and is wellestablished with the American public.
The current categories for film ratings, as defined by the MPAA and NATO, follow:

G

General Audiences - All ages admitted
Signifies that the film rated contains nothing most parents will consider offensive
for even their youngest children to see or hear. Nudity, sex scenes, and scenes of
drug use are absent; violence is minimal; snippets of dialogue may go beyond
polite conversation but do not go beyond common everyday expressions.
Recent examples: Chicken Run; Fantasia 2000

PG

Parental Guidance Suggested - Some material may not be suitable for
children.
Signifies that the film rated may contain some material parents might not like to
expose to their young children – material that will clearly need to be examined or
inquired about before children are allowed to attend the film. Explicit sex scenes
and scenes of drug use are absent; nudity, if present, is seen only briefly, horror
and violence do not exceed moderate levels.
Recent examples: The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle; The Kid

PG-13

Parents Strongly Cautioned - Some material may be inappropriate for
children under 13.
Signifies that the film rated may be inappropriate for pre-teens. Parents should be
especially careful about letting their younger children attend. Rough or persistent
violence is absent; sexually-oriented nudity is generally absent; some scenes of
drug use may be seen; some use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words may
be heard.
Recent examples: Mission Impossible 2; The Perfect Storm; Big Momma’s House

R

Restricted - Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult
guardian (age varies in some jurisdictions).
Signifies that the rating board has concluded that the film rated may contain some
adult material. Parents are urged to learn more about the film before taking their
6

children to see it. An R may be assigned due to, among other things, a film’s use
of language, theme, violence, sex or its portrayal of drug use.
Recent examples: Gladiator; Shaft; The Patriot; Me, Myself and Irene

NC-17

No one 17 and Under Admitted.
Signifies that the rating board believes that most American parents would feel that
the film is patently adult and that children age 17 and under should not be
admitted to it. The film may contain explicit sex scenes, an accumulation of
sexually-oriented language, and/or scenes of excessive violence. The NC-17
designation does not, however, signify that the rated film is obscene or
pornographic in terms of sex, language or violence.35
Recent examples: None
Each film assigned a rating other than G also receives a brief explanation for the film’s rating,
e.g., “Rated R for terror, violence and language,” or “Rated PG-13 for intense sci-fi violence,
some sexuality and brief nudity.”
The Classification and Ratings Administration (“CARA”) determines the ratings and
explanations. Qualifications for membership in CARA are parenting experience and no
connection to the film industry. Currently, CARA has 12 members (known as raters), and two
Co-Chairs, all of whom are approved by, and serve at the discretion of, the President of the
MPAA.36
A Policy Review Committee consisting of MPAA and NATO officials sets the rules that
govern CARA procedures. This Committee instructs CARA board members to give each film
the rating that, based on theme, language, nudity and sexual content, violence, drug use, and
“other relevant matters,”37 they think most American parents would consider appropriate for
viewing by children.38 A simple majority vote determines the rating.39
The studio submitting the film can accept the CARA rating, appeal, or edit the film to
achieve a less severe rating. Rating appeals are rare;40 more often, a distributor will edit the film
to achieve a desired rating. However, if a studio chooses to appeal the rating, an Appeals Board
views the film. Unlike the original CARA raters, who have no connection to the film industry,
the Appeals Board is made up of industry members, with MPAA and NATO members
comprising the vast majority of the votes.41 For an appeal to be successful, two thirds of the
Appeals Board must conclude that the rating assigned by CARA was “clearly erroneous.”42

7

As noted above, violence is one of the factors that CARA members specifically consider
in assigning ratings to the films they review. According to the MPAA, PG-13 films have no
rough or persistent violence, and the existence of such violence will cause a film to be rated R.43
Nevertheless, the Commission’s study of the ratings explanations indicates that CARA often
describes the violence in PG-13 films in terms synonymous with rough and persistent violence,
for example, as “intense,” “strong,” “disturbing,” “brutal,” “graphic,” “shocking,” “non-stop,”
and “pervasive.” These words are identical or similar to words often used to describe violence in
R-rated movies,44 causing some to question the usefulness of the ratings for helping parents
distinguish the amount and kind of violence in PG-13 films from that in R-rated films.45 Parental
uncertainty over the violent content contained in PG-13 films is of concern because, as will be
described in Section III of this Report, these films frequently are marketed to children as young
as six.

2.

Review of advertising for content and rating information

The motion picture industry’s self-regulatory system is the only one of the three examined
by the Commission that includes substantive review and pre-approval of advertising. For a film
to use the MPAA-trademarked rating, all advertising materials for a film, including all television
and radio commercials, print advertising, Web sites, and trailers (previews shown in theaters),
must be approved by the MPAA’s Advertising Administration.46 The Advertising
Administration does not approve advertising for products related to motion pictures, such as
action figures, toys, clothing, or other licensed products.
Review by the Advertising Administration is designed to accomplish two goals. The first
is to ensure the accurate dissemination of the rating symbol in all advertising for a film. MPAA
rules require that a film’s letter rating be displayed in all advertising. The Commission’s review
suggests that the Advertising Administration generally achieves this goal.
The Advertising Administration’s other goal is to ensure that the content of a film’s
advertising, regardless of the film’s rating, is appropriate for even the youngest audience. With
one exception described below, the MPAA requires the Advertising Administration to
disapprove advertising if it would not pass muster with most parents as suitable for young

8

children; that is, the content of the advertising must be the equivalent of a G-rated movie.47 A
film distributor that disagrees with the Advertising Administration’s decision regarding the
content of an advertisement can appeal the decision directly to the MPAA President.48
The Commission’s review indicates that the Advertising Administration is less
successful at meeting its second goal. Theatrical trailers illustrate the point. The Advertising
Administration approves two types of trailers, which, based on the Commission’s review of
studio media plans, appear to be the first widely disseminated advertisements for a film. The
first type, known as an “all audience” trailer, is for general audiences and can be shown before
any feature film.49 According to the MPAA, “There will be, in ‘all audiences’ trailers, no scenes
that caused the feature to be rated PG, PG-13, R, or NC-17.”50 The second type of trailer is for
restricted audiences and can be shown only before films rated R or NC-17.51
A review of materials submitted to the Commission suggests that, although the
Advertising Administration restricts the material allowed in all audience trailers, it does not
require the studios to remove everything that would cause a movie to be given a rating more
restrictive than G. Trailers are approved by the Advertising Administration and shown in
theaters long before a film is rated; consequently, for these “teaser trailers,”52 the Advertising
Administration has no way to know what will cause the raters to rate a film PG or higher.53 And
CARA raters do not evaluate trailers or other advertising.
The Commission found numerous examples when trailers approved for “all audiences”
contained material that the Advertising Administration’s Handbook says might “engender
criticism by parents.”54 For example, the “all audience” trailer for I Know What You Did Last
Summer contained verbal references to mutilations (references to decapitation and to a person
being “gutted with a hook”) and drug use. A trailer for Scream 2 contained a verbal reference to
mutilation (that a woman had been stabbed seven times) and several visual depictions of violence
against women (women being pursued by a masked, knife-wielding killer).55
Television advertising also is affected when material causing a rating more restrictive
than G is not edited out of an “all audience” trailer. Television commercials for movies generally
are shortened versions of the trailers; they thus may contain some of the same violent material.
Although the MPAA states that “TV spots containing sexual references, violence, blood or

9

profanity are not acceptable,”56 the Commission’s review shows that the television networks
sometimes require the deletion of certain scenes or restrict the airing of commercials the MPAA
had approved for general audiences because the advertisement is too violent.

C.

Issues Not Addressed by the Motion Picture Self-Regulatory System
1.

Accessibility of reasons for ratings

The MPAA first integrated brief rating explanations – for example, Rated PG-13 for
intense horror sequences – into the rating system in 1990.57 According to the Association, these
explanations are as much a part of the rating as the letter symbol.58 The MPAA sends these
explanations to newspapers for use in movie reviews and to theaters to enable box office
personnel to respond to questions from patrons. The MPAA’s NATO partners have requested
that the studios also place these explanations in advertising,59 but the MPAA does not require this
information in advertising for movies and the studios do not include it in their ads. According to
the MPAA, typical newspaper ads do not contain enough space for the rating explanations to be
legible, given the other information that must be included in the ads.60
Recently, the MPAA and its members announced that print advertising would include a
reference to a Web site, www.filmratings.com, where people can find the ratings explanations
issued for individual films.61 Although a step in the right direction, this approach requires
parents to seek out this important information rather than placing it at their fingertips in the ads
themselves;62 moreover, many do not have ready access to the Internet.63 Further, the Web site
reference is not included in all print ads and is not in advertising other than print ads, such as
television commercials or Web sites promoting individual films.64
Consumer survey evidence suggests that parents want more from the movie rating system.
Although it appears that over 90% of parents are familiar with motion picture ratings and about
75% find the ratings useful,65 some surveys show the system could do a better job of informing
parents about the level of violence in movies. For example, a survey of parents conducted by the
Commission for this Report in May and June 2000 found high satisfaction with the movie rating
system in general but much less satisfaction regarding the information about violence the system
provides: 50% of the parents surveyed said the movie rating system does a fair or poor job of

10

informing them of the level of violence in a movie, while 48% stated the rating system does an
excellent or good job.66 Similarly, a Gallup poll conducted in June 1999 reported that 58% of the
respondents believed that the movie industry does not provide adults with enough information
about violent content to make decisions about what is appropriate for children, while 40% stated
that it does.67

Parents’ Responses - Movies
Who selects the product?
An adult
An adult and the child together
The child
Who purchases the product?
An adult
An adult and the child together
The child
Parent restricts child's use of the product
Parent is aware of a rating system for the product
How often do you use the rating system?
Some, most, or all of the time
Rarely or never
Are you satisfied with the rating system?
Somewhat or very satisfied
Somewhat or very dissatisfied
How does the rating system do in informing you about violence?
Good or excellent
Fair or poor
2.

21%
78%
2%
60%
36%
3%
90%
91%
88%
11%
81%
17%
48%
50%

Advertising placement standards

The movie self-regulatory system does not have a code of conduct or guidelines regarding
advertising placement or marketing to children. The MPAA’s Advertising Administration
reviews advertising solely for content. Once the MPAA is satisfied that the advertising contains
nothing that “most parents would find offensive for their children to see or hear,”68 it plays no
further role in the marketing of the film.69 Significantly, the motion picture studios, unlike the
electronic game industry, believe that it is appropriate to target advertising for R-rated films to
children under 17 and to target advertising for PG-13-rated films to children under 13, on the
11

grounds that these ratings are merely cautionary warnings to parents.70 The industry notes,
among other reasons, that, “Many socially and artistically important films have received PG-13
and R ratings because they contain such depictions [of violence],” and that those filmmakers
have the right to draw as much attention to their work as possible – “even the attention of persons
under the age of 17, who are entitled to view such films with the permission and in the company
of their parents.”71
Although the motion picture industry does not have guidelines regarding ad placement, the
major television networks and the theaters do have restrictions or guidelines about where and
when film advertising is appropriate. Documents provided to the Commission suggest that
almost all the major television networks have guidelines governing the airing of commercials for
PG-13 and R films. In general, advertising for PG-13 films is evaluated on a case-by-case basis,
depending on the content of the ad and the film. Half the networks have policies limiting the
airing of ads for R-rated films (e.g., to news and sports programs, or only after 9 or 10 p.m.); the
others evaluate these ads on an individual basis.
For the major theater chains, the prevailing policy, either written or unwritten, is to limit
trailer placement to feature presentations within one rating of the movie being promoted. That is,
the policy allows trailers for R-rated movies to be placed with R and PG-13 features, and trailers
for PG-13-rated movies to be placed with R, PG-13, and PG features.72
Still, as discussed in the next Section of this Report, the Commission found that neither the
television networks’ nor the theaters’ placement restrictions are entirely effective in limiting
children’s exposure to advertising for movies generally rated for older audiences.

III. MARKETING MOVIES TO CHILDREN
A.

Background

A central question the Commission was asked to address in this study is whether violent
entertainment products are being marketed to children. With respect to the film industry, the
answer is plainly “yes.” The Commission’s review indicates that motion picture studios
routinely advertise movies rated R for violence to children under 17 and movies rated PG-13 for
violence to children under 13.

12

The marketing of a motion picture begins long before the film is rated.73 The studios exhibit
rough cuts of the actual film as well as its core advertisements (trailers, TV commercials, and
print ads) to test audiences, and conduct detailed research on many aspects of the film. Movie
marketers choose audiences for these tests to meet defined demographics, including age
parameters set by the studios. They conduct advertising research to measure the interestgenerating potential of the advertisement, identify the moviegoers most attracted by the
advertisements, and determine the messages conveyed.
Media advertising for a film also begins before the film is rated, or even completed. Six
months to a year before a film opens, teaser trailers appear in theaters and on the Internet.
Television commercials for summer releases may air during the Super Bowl in January.
Newspaper and magazine advertising and outdoor banners also appear months before opening.
Two to four weeks before a film opens, studios may launch a massive media blitz designed to
saturate the marketplace. Because studio research suggests that most moviegoers learn about
new films through television advertising, it is the most important aspect of many motion picture
advertising campaigns.74 The studios also use radio, print, outdoor advertising, the Internet, and
promotional activities to generate interest in a film. During a campaign, studios receive industrywide tracking reports – up to three times per week – measuring the campaign’s success among
various age groups, including children aged 12-17.75

B.

Marketing R-Rated and PG-13-Rated Films to Children

As noted above, the motion picture industry’s self-regulatory system does not restrict the
placement of advertising materials for R and PG-13 films because the MPAA takes the view that
children are appropriate targets for such films, so long as parental accompaniment or guidance is
provided. The marketing documents reviewed by the Commission indicate extensive marketing
– and, in many instances, explicit targeting – of violent R films to children under the age of 17
and of violent PG-13 films to children under 13.
Specifically, the documents show that 35 of the 44 R-rated films studied by the Commission,
or 80%, were targeted to children under 17.76 Media plans or promotional reports for 28 of those
44 films,77 or 64%, contain express statements that the film’s target audience included children

13

under 17.78 Marketing materials for seven other R-rated films also appeared to be targeting those
under 17, though they did not expressly identify a target audience under 17. The plans for these
seven films were either strikingly similar to the plans that did expressly target those under 17, or
they detailed actions synonymous with targeting that age group (e.g., advertising in high school
newspapers or other publications with majority under-17 audiences, or otherwise promoting the
films in high schools).79
Studio records also indicate that youngsters under the age of 17 were included in some
marketing research activities. Thirty-three of the 44 R-rated films tested either a rough cut of the
film or the film’s advertising on an audience that included teens under 17.80 Although most of
this research was conducted on those 15 and older, research for eight R-rated films included 12year-olds, and research for at least one other R-rated film was conducted on children as young as
10.81
Promoting violent PG-13-rated films to those under 13, while not as pervasive, is not
unusual. Marketing materials for 20 films rated PG-13 for violence revealed that nine, or 45%,
targeted children 11 and younger.82

1.

Television advertising

R-rated films: Studio research shows that most moviegoers, and teens in particular, become
aware of movies through television. Accordingly, studio media plans detail massive television
campaigns. Of the 35 R-rated movies that targeted children under 17, studio media plans
indicate that 26 designed at least part of their television campaign around a target audience
including people aged 12 and above.
The studios repeatedly advertised films rated R for violence on television programs that
were the highest rated among teens or where teens comprised the largest percentage of the
audience.83 The plans sometimes referred to these programs as “teen-oriented.”84 When studios
targeted films to a particularly young audience, they increased significantly the frequency of
advertising on those shows and excluded other programming.85
To reach teenage audiences more effectively, studios target advertising for certain times of
day. Studio marketing materials indicate that the best way to reach younger viewers is to

14

purchase advertising on local stations – a process referred to as “Spot TV buys” – on weekends,
and during the “early fringe” and “prime access” hours, i.e., after school and before prime-time
network programming begins at 8 p.m.86
The studios advertised violent R-rated movies to children under 17 with cable television
campaigns that were remarkably similar to each other. MTV, with its core demographic of 1224,87 was the largest advertising cable outlet for almost every motion picture the Commission
examined, in terms of both the quantity of ads and the target audience reached. Indeed, the
younger the target audience, the more the studios tended to advertise on MTV. For some of the
movies targeting particularly young audiences, it was not uncommon for a studio to use MTV to
achieve over 50% of its cable audience exposure.88
PG-13-rated films: Seven of the nine PG-13-rated films that were targeted to children 11
and younger were advertised on afternoon and Saturday morning cartoon programs. Marketing
plans also included advertising on the Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.89
An analysis of the television campaigns for PG-13 films targeting youngsters 6-11 indicates
that many of the television programs popular with teens and used heavily to promote R-rated
movies, also are very popular with children 6-11. As one marketing plan for a PG-13 movie
targeting those 6-11 stated, “Other programs, such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, WWF and WCW
Wrestling cross over to Children 6-11 and local television buys targeted this group as well.” This
plan also showed that Xena: Warrior Princess – used in advertising for virtually every R-rated
movie the Commission examined – was as popular with children 6-11 as it was with males 1217. MTV is also popular with children 6-11.90 Thus, although the Commission found little
indication that R-rated films were deliberately being marketed to children under 12,91 those
young children nevertheless had substantial exposure to the television advertising for R-rated
films as well.

2.

Trailers

Trailers are a unique form of advertising. Trailer placement is governed by unwritten
agreements between the studios and theaters through their principal trade associations. Studios
do not pay the theaters to show their trailers. Completed features are sent to theaters with one

15

trailer physically attached; other unattached trailers are sent to the theaters with a request that
they be shown with a particular feature. The MPAA and NATO have agreed to limit trailer
length and to require only that theaters play the attached trailer. Although unattached trailers are
played at the discretion of the theater, the studios exert pressure on the theaters to adhere to their
requests. Studios hire “trailer checkers” to verify that theaters are showing their trailers,92 and
theaters may be concerned that if they do not show the requested trailers, a studio might not book
a future hit feature with them.
In general, theaters do not show trailers for R- and
National Association
of Theatre Owners
4605 Lankershim Blvd., Ste. 340
North Hollywood, CA 91602
818.506.1778
www.hollywood.com/nato

PG-13-rated movies before children’s animated features.
In 1989, NATO passed a resolution stating: “All trailers
shown with a ‘G’ rated film should be compatible
therewith, and theatre owners should be especially
sensitive to this situation to the end that the theatre going

public will be entirely comfortable taking young children to view ‘G’ rated motion pictures.”93
NATO adopted this resolution due to complaints received from irate parents over the strong
content of “all audience” trailers shown at films geared to young audiences. For this reason, the
major theater chains (as discussed above in Section II.C.2) have adopted policies to limit trailer
placement to within one rating of the feature presentation. The net effect of this trailer placement
policy, however, is that previews for R-rated films are shown to audiences containing substantial
numbers of youngsters under 17: trailer requests reviewed by the Commission show that the
studios routinely seek to place trailers (both attached and unattached) for R-rated movies at PG13-rated features, including those PG-13 features the Commission determined were marketed to
children 11 and younger.94
In addition, the theaters appear to grant exceptions to the “within one rating” policy. For
example, trailer check reports reviewed by the Commission show that Star Wars Episode 1: The
Phantom Menace, rated PG, was regularly preceded by trailers for such films as The General’s
Daughter (“Rated R for graphic images relating to sexual violence including a strong rape scene,
some perverse sexuality, nudity and language”), South Park (“Rated R for pervasive vulgar

16

language and crude sexual humor, and for some violent images”), and The Beach (“Rated R for
violence, some strong sexuality, language and drug content”).95

3.

Promotional and “street marketing”

The studios use a wide array of promotional activities to generate interest in a film.
Although the majority of these activities are directed to a very broad audience, some are directed
to children.
R-rated films: One of the most popular methods the studios used to attract teens to R-rated
films was to distribute free passes to movie screenings and free merchandise related to the film
(such as t-shirts, tatoos, and mini-posters) at places where teens congregate. As one marketing
plan for an R-rated film stated:
[O]ur goal was to find the elusive teen target audience and make sure everyone between
the ages of 12-18 was exposed to the film. To do so, we went beyond the media partners
by enlisting young, hip “Teen Street Teams” to distribute items at strategic teen
“hangouts” such as malls, teen clothing stores, sporting events, Driver’s Ed classes,
arcades and numerous other locations.
Although only one studio described this promotional device in such direct terms, all the studios
that provided details of their promotional activities used this tactic to attract teens.96
PG-13-rated films: Toys, children’s clothing, and fast food appear to be the primary
promotional methods for generating interest in PG-13 movies among children 11 and younger.97
Three studios had licensing arrangements with toy and apparel companies for children’s
merchandise based on violent PG-13 films. Although these agreements are intended to generate
their own revenue as well as to generate interest in seeing a film, the marketing materials
reviewed by the Commission show they constitute an important facet of film promotion.98

4.

Radio and print advertising

Radio advertising, although used less extensively than television, was an integral part of
many advertising campaigns.99 Marketing materials from five of the studios showed that radio
was particularly useful in attracting audiences under 17.100 The studios also used print
advertising to target R-rated movies to teens. Magazines with majority under-17 audiences, such

17

as Teen, Jump, YM, DC Comics Teen, or Marvel Comics, contained advertisements for numerous
R-rated films.101 In addition, six of the studios used print media distributed exclusively in
schools – Planet Report and/or Fast Times – to advertise R-rated movies. Planet Report is
published by a company that distributes posters and other promotional items to at least 8,000
schools, including high schools and elementary schools.102 Fast Times, a news and entertainment
magazine, is used as a high school teaching aid and often is assigned as mandatory reading to
high school students.103

5.

Internet marketing

The motion picture studios also promote their films by establishing an “official” Web site for
each movie they release. Web sites generally have trailers for the movie available for
downloading and viewing, as well as background information on the film’s cast and creators.
The studios include the address for the official movie site in virtually all print advertising and
also place banner ads on other sites that link directly to the official site. For the R-rated films
that targeted teens, the studios placed banner ads on sites with high teen usage.104
An important feature of the Internet is that it provides another outlet to show trailers for
movies. Before widespread use of the Internet, trailers were limited to theaters. Now, trailers, in
addition to being available on a movie’s official site, also are available on numerous theater sites
and through aggregator sites, many of which are independent from the studios and provide
reviews and information about films.105
The proliferation of trailers online presents some obvious problems: “restricted trailers,”
those with content the MPAA has determined not to be acceptable for “all audiences,” can easily
be accessed by children under 17; in addition, the strong content contained in some “all
audience” trailers is also accessible on the Internet by those under 17. The Commission’s review
found restricted trailers for American Pie and Road Trip posted on official Web sites that can be
accessed as easily as “all audience” trailers by children under 17.106

18

C.

Box Office Enforcement

As partners in the industry’s self-regulatory system, movie theaters have urged the motion
picture studios to include explanations for ratings in print advertising, and they also play a central
role in trailer placement. Nevertheless, enforcement of the R rating category – ensuring that
patrons under 17, without parental involvement, do not see R-rated films at theaters – remains
the fundamental role of the theater.107 In fulfilling this role, the theaters must strike a delicate
balance between the need for enforcement (including the costs associated with measures beyond
identification checks) and the need to maintain a friendly and welcoming environment.
Despite the official policy that

FTC Mystery Shopper Survey
Movies

children under 17 should not be
admitted to an R-rated movie

(395 Shoppers)

unless accompanied by a parent or
guardian, such children gain access Was Rating Information Posted?
in a variety of ways. They may
purchase a ticket for the film

54%

NO

46%

YES

46%

NO

54%

YES

48%

NO

52%

Was Child Able to Make Purchase?

themselves; have a sibling, friend,
or stranger over the age of 17
purchase it for them; or, in a multi-

YES

Did Employee Ask Age?

theater complex, purchase a ticket
to a PG-13- or lower-rated film and then, once past the ticket taker, go into the auditorium
showing the R-rated picture. In a multiplex theater, meaningful enforcement of the age
restrictions reflected in the MPAA ratings requires that attention be paid at two different places
in the theater: the ticket window and the auditorium entrance.
Material from the eight largest domestic theater chains indicates that they have taken
responsible measures to increase enforcement of the minimum age requirement for the purchase
of tickets to R-rated features since the Columbine shootings. In a June 1999 public
announcement with President Clinton, NATO promised stricter enforcement of the MPAA
guidelines. Specifically, NATO announced that all its member theaters should require, at the box

19

office, photo identification of unaccompanied young patrons seeking admission to R-rated
films.108
Despite these enhanced efforts, an undercover shopper survey of 395 theaters conducted for
the Commission in May through July 2000 found that just over half of the theaters enforced the
age restrictions at the box office. Theaters refused to sell tickets to R-rated movies to
unaccompanied 13- to 16-year-old children 54% of the time; youngsters successfully purchased
those tickets 46% of the time. The same percentage of theaters that did not admit
unaccompanied children (54%) also posted information about the rating system or theater
enforcement policy. (See Appendix F for details of the “Mystery Shopper” survey.)
NATO has suggested several ways109 theater chains might expand enforcement beyond box
office identification checks: posting ushers to check for proof of age at the doors of features
expected to attract a high proportion of teens; stamping the hands of patrons who have shown
proof of age to the cashier, so they later can be checked for proof of age more easily; and, in
multiplexes, when and where possible, showing similarly rated features in the same area of the
complex.110 The Commission’s review indicates that, to date, the major theater chains have
adopted very few of these suggestions. Four of the eight chains may require further proof of age
by either the ticket taker or an usher posted at the auditorium entrance. The rest rely solely on the
cashier. None of the theaters appears to have implemented NATO’s other suggestions.

D.

Retailing of Movie Videos

Children’s access to violent movies on home video111 differs according to whether the video
is rented or purchased. Parents have significant controls over the videos their children rent
because of limitations established by the major rental outlets. To be eligible for rental privileges,
a customer of a video rental store usually must be 18 and have a credit card, making it difficult
for children to rent videos independent of their parents’ membership.112 Blockbuster Video and
Hollywood Video, the dominant home video membership stores, have responded to parental
concerns by adopting policies that give parents the option to restrict the videos rented by their
children. Under Blockbuster Video’s policy, parents must affirmatively give their consent to
their children’s rental of R-rated movies.113 Hollywood Video’s policy is the opposite: parental

20

consent to rent R-rated videos is presumed and parents must opt to place restrictions on the
account.114 Another large retail chain follows a discretionary policy: it gives individual stores
autonomy in deciding whether to permit the rental of R-rated movies to minors.115
Although renting R-rated videos usually requires a degree of parental involvement, the direct
purchase of such videos often does not. Home videos are sold at a wide variety of locations,
ranging from specialized video stores and small convenience stores to large discount merchants,
supermarkets, and the Internet. The Commission reviewed the policies of eight major retailers
that sell home videos at traditional “bricks and mortar” stores. Only three of these informed the
Commission that they have policies restricting the sale of R-rated videos to children under 17.
These three retailers also rent videos, and thus may be more attuned to the issue of parental
consent in this area.
All of the online retailers contacted by the Commission116 provide MPAA ratings
information.117 However, these same retailers generally do not have express policies restricting
the online sale of R-rated videos to children. One retailer stated that it relies on the purchaser’s
use of a credit card as a proxy for parental approval. The other retailers did not indicate whether
they do so as well.

IV. THE MUSIC RECORDING INDUSTRY PARENTAL ADVISORY LABELING
PROGRAM
We believe that not all music is right for all ages and our Parental Advisory Label was
created for just that reason. Parents can use the label to identify music that may not be
appropriate for their children and make the choice about when – and whether – their
children should be able to have that recording.
– Recording Industry Association of America118

Recording Industry
Association of America
330 Connecticut Avenue N.W.
Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.775.0101
www.riaa.org

The Recording Industry Association of America
(“RIAA”) created a parental advisory program in 1985 in
response to concerns of parent groups about children’s
exposure to music with mature themes.119 Under the
program, music recordings that contain explicit lyrics,
21

including strong language or graphic references to violence, sex, or drug use, are identified with a
parental advisory label.120
The RIAA describes the parental advisory label as a tool for record companies to use to alert
parents to explicit lyrics.121 The decision to label a recording is made by individual record
companies and their artists.122 RIAA members, as well as non-member companies, use the
advisory.123
A.

Scope of Commission’s Review

In examining the music recording industry’s parental advisory labeling program, the
Commission reviewed documents provided by the RIAA and the National Association of
Recording Merchandisers (“NARM”), as well as publicly available materials. In addition,
because each recording company labels its own explicit-content recordings, the Commission
analyzed documents provided by the major recording companies – BMG Entertainment, EMI
Recorded Music, North America, Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., Warner Music Group, Inc.,
and UMG Recordings, Inc. (Universal) – and their affiliated record companies (together “the
recording companies”) that explain their individual procedures for determining which recordings
need to display the parental advisory label.124
In addition, the Commission studied the marketing
National Association
of Recording Merchandisers
9 Eves Drive, Suite 120
Marlton, NJ 08053
856.596.2221
www.narm.com

plans, advertisements, and advertisement dissemination
schedules for 55 full-length recordings with the parental
advisory label, all of which were top sellers in 1999.125
Because the recording companies could not specify
which recordings received the parental advisory label

due to violent content, as opposed to some other explicit content, these companies produced
materials for top-selling recordings labeled for any reason due to their “explicit” content (which
could include strong language and/or depictions of sex, violence, or substance use).126 Also,
because the RIAA’s label makes no recommendations to parents about the age appropriateness of
recordings with explicit lyrics, the Commission applied the age limit (17) of the movie and
electronic game industry self-regulatory programs to its analysis of whether the recording
industry is marketing explicit-content labeled recordings to children.127

22

B.

Operation of the Music Recording Labeling Program
1.

The labeling process

The parental advisory label is black and white, measures 1" x 5/8" and says “Parental
Advisory, Explicit Content.”

Unlike the film and electronic game self-regulatory systems, the recording industry labeling
program does not have a rating board to determine which music recordings should display the
parental advisory label. Nor does the RIAA provide standardized procedures or other guidance
as to when a recording should display a parental advisory. Instead, the decision is made by each
company for its own products. According to the RIAA, with about 60,000 recordings released
each year, the artists and recording companies themselves can make the labeling decision most
efficiently. In addition, the RIAA believes that because the parental advisory label is meant to
flag for parents any potentially offensive material, it makes sense for a “sensitive and
sophisticated” labeler at each company to make the labeling decision.128 Therefore, to report on
the labeling process, the Commission reviewed the practices of the five major recording
companies.
According to the recording companies, the decision to label is subjective, and often made on
a case-by-case basis.129 None of the companies has adopted written policies or guidelines
defining “explicit” content in music and none memorializes why a particular recording received
the advisory.130
One company reported that its employees, often in partnership with the artists involved,
make “good faith judgments about what kinds of lyrics and depictions parents might find
offensive, because of racial epithets, vulgarities, curse words, sexual references, violence, and
drug descriptions.” Another company evaluates the content of every recording on the basis of
various factors, including, but not limited to: explicit exhortations of sex, violence, illicit drug
use, or suicide; exhortations of violence against any specific named real person or peace officer;
offensive language generally and use of objectionable words; overall impression, including

23

generally nihilistic world view, pervasive misogyny or racial/minority stereotyping. “The
ultimate judgment call of whether the content of a recording warrants the [parental advisory
label] is made in light of the message and identity of the artist, the current social climate, and,
perhaps most importantly, straightforward common sense,” the company said.
Documents from the three remaining companies suggest that they evaluate the content of a
recording based on a cursory review of the lyrics. According to these companies, they may
decide to label a recording as soon as they hear a number of expletives on one song, without
listening to an album’s entire content.131 One company explained that because the RIAA system
involves a single label, a more thorough analysis is unnecessary, and that “the process is not
distinctly tailored to differentiate among ‘violent content,’ sex, language, or any other reason as
the basis for stickering.”132
If a company and/or an artist determines that a recording contains explicit content, the RIAA
recommends using the label on the packaging of all cassettes, CDs, vinyl records, and music
videotapes.133 According to the RIAA, the label should measure 1" x 5/8" and should be part of
the permanent packaging under the cellophane shrink wrap, rather than a peel-off sticker.134

2.

The use of the advisory label on packaging

The Commission’s review of the packaging of 55 top-selling CDs that bore the parental
advisory label indicates that the recording companies do not uniformly follow the RIAA’s
suggestions for using the label.135 In one company’s case, 91% of the CD labels met the RIAA
labeling parameters; in another company’s case, none of the CDs – 0% – was labeled according
to RIAA suggestions. The Commission noted the following:
<

The advisory labels on 27 of the recordings (50%) met the RIAA
recommendations for size, placement, and format.

<

The labels on 41 of the recordings (75%) were incorporated directly into the CD
packaging; the labels on the remaining 14 CDs (25%) were removable stickers
attached to the CD case.

24

<

A total of 10 of the removable stickers provided other information about popular
songs on the CD in and around the advisory, tending to obscure the message on
the advisory.

<

Twenty-two of the advisories (39%) were smaller than the RIAA’s recommended
size.

In addition, a later review (July 2000) of the labels on 25 current top-selling labeled
recordings also showed that the advisory often is smaller than the RIAA specifies or is a peel-off
sticker.136

3.

“Clean” versions

Although not specifically recommended by the RIAA, the recording companies routinely
create and sell edited or “clean” versions of the explicit-content labeled recordings.137 According
to one recording company, an edited version “provides listeners with the option of purchasing an
artist’s work without the explicit content as identified by [the recording company and] . . .
provides an alternative to retailers and other media outlets that opt not to sell, disseminate or
promote the unedited versions of the stickered recordings.”138 Explicit or unedited versions of
recordings usually outsell the edited version, often by over 10 times.139
In creating an edited version, one company states that it:
often works closely with the artists to determine the necessary changes. In some
recordings any explicit content is simply taken out, while in other instances new lyrics or
sounds are added to replace those in the stickered version. These changes are made on a
case by case basis with the focus centered on the deletion of any explicit content while
making minimal changes to the artistic expression.140
The company further acknowledges that “there remain in the edited versions of the CDs
identified . . . instances of language, situations, and phrases that reasonably might be considered
‘violent’ without distorting standard English usage.” Its justification for leaving such lyrics in
the edited version is “there is also in popular children’s fare (cowboy adventures, military
exploits, fairy tales, cartoons, etc.) a great deal that is similarly ‘violent,’ but for which no one
would advocate special labeling or warning.”141
Creating an edited version is not always feasible, however. According to one company, if the
controversial content is essential to the artist’s message, the recording company may not release
25

an edited version. The decision to create an edited version, this company said, also “may turn on
the practical consequences of editing. . . .[A]n edited version may not be produced if the editing
process would eliminate the preponderance of the lyrics.”142
Although the lyrics on the two versions may vary, the CD packaging often does not, except
that the explicit version bears the parental advisory label. When the CD packaging itself contains
“explicit content,” the artwork used for the explicit and edited versions may differ.143 Similarly,
when the packaging for both versions lists the songs, the edited versions often replace any
profanity in song titles with asterisks.

C.

Issues Not Addressed by the Music Recording Labeling Program
1.

Access to important information about explicit recordings

The parental advisory label covers a wide range of content, including violence, sex, and/or
drug use, without regard to the fact that some parents may be more concerned with certain types
of explicit content than with others. Although the RIAA agrees that parents need information
about recordings to be able to make intelligent listening choices for their children,144 groups such
as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Parent Teacher Association have
expressed concern that the industry’s “one-size-fits-all” approach does not provide enough
information to parents.145
Unlike the motion picture and electronic game rating systems, the label does not provide
reasons for the advisory label or “content descriptors” indicating the nature or the amount of the
explicit content (e.g., strong language or graphic references to violence, sex, or drug use).146
Instead, one advisory covers a broad spectrum of content, including violence and/or sex.
Nor does the label specify the age groups for which an explicit-content labeled recording
may be inappropriate;147 parents of a 7-year-old are given the same advisory as parents of a 12year-old or a 16-year-old.148 Further, the industry does not provide a means for parents to obtain
the lyrics of explicit-content labeled recordings. In fact, the Commission found that out of the 55
labeled CDs that it reviewed, only eight included lyrics for the songs in the packaging. Parental
review of a recording may be hindered because the lyrics on many explicit songs are difficult to
understand without repeated listening.149

26

Focus groups conducted for the RIAA indicate that parents want a “visible and credible
voluntary labeling program that helps them monitor the music their children purchase.”150
Consumer survey evidence suggests that the current labeling program may not provide parents
with enough information about violent lyrics to help them make decisions about their children’s
listening choices. In a survey conducted for the Commission in May and June 2000, fewer than
half of the parents (44%) surveyed viewed the parental advisory as “excellent” (12%) or “good”
(32%) at informing them about the level of violence in music.151 And although 74% of parents
surveyed reported being “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the parental advisory label,
only 9% of parents who restrict their children’s music mentioned the advisory label when asked
how they decide what music their children can listen to. Of the overall sample of parents, 45%
use the advisory program at least some of the time.152 According to a June 1999 Gallup poll,
74% of the respondents thought that music producers do not provide enough information about
the violent content in lyrics of popular music for adults to make decisions about what is
appropriate for children; 22% thought that the information was enough.153 The same poll found
that 73% of parents believed that the music industry should place restrictions on the sale of
recordings with violent content to children under 18, as well as provide information to the public
about the violent content of recordings.154

27

Parents’ Responses - Music
Who selects the product?
An adult
An adult and the child together
The child
Who purchases the product?
An adult
An adult and the child together
The child
Parent restricts child's use of the product
Parent is aware of a rating system for the product
How often do you use the rating system?
Some, most, or all of the time
Rarely or never
Are you satisfied with the rating system?
Somewhat or very satisfied
Somewhat or very dissatisfied
How does the rating system do in informing you about violence?
Good or excellent
Fair or poor

2.

11%
55%
34%
34%
37%
28%
72%
77%
62%
38%
74%
14%
44%
40%

The placement of an advisory on digital music

The current labeling program encourages an advisory on explicit music sold in CD, cassette,
or album formats, but not on explicit music that is downloaded electronically and stored as a
computer file (e.g., an MP3 file).155 Internet technology is making music available to a broad
audience,156 and studies show that listening to and obtaining music in a digital format is
increasingly popular with teenagers.157 The recording companies have begun to address the
growing availability of digital music and to create their own systems of digital music
distribution.158 However, no parental advisory labeling program exists for digital music.

3.

Advertising disclosure and placement standards

The RIAA has stated that the explicit content label is a tool designed “to provide a clear
notice to parents to allow them to decide . . . what may or may not be appropriate music for their
children.”159 As noted above, the RIAA program’s single element has been a point-of-purchase
28

disclosure on the packaging of a CD, cassette, or album (see next section for recently-announced
changes).160 The labeling program has not addressed the advertising of explicit recordings, either
in terms of whether the advisory label should appear in advertising or whether the recording
companies should limit where they place ads for labeled recordings.161
The Commission’s review of the music advertising submitted by the recording companies
and by eight major music retailers shows that, while some ads for explicit recordings display the
advisory, many do not.162 Moreover, when the label appears in advertising, it often is a black and
white blur that is too small for consumers to read, or is obscured by pricing information.
A separate review of recent issues of magazines popular with teens shows that
advertisements for explicit-content labeled recordings rarely display the parental advisory: only
18 (8%) of 234 print ads for labeled recordings displayed the advisory.163 Similarly, a review of
artist, recording company, and music retailer Web sites shows that many of the online
promotions for explicit recordings omit the parental advisory.164
There are a few notable exceptions, however. Some recording company and retailer Web
sites tell consumers about the explicit content of the recordings they are selling through text
disclosures near the promotions. For example, Cash Money Records uses clear text disclosures –
“Explicit Version” and “Clean Version” – directly below pictures of the individual recordings.165
Similarly, Amazon.com regularly includes the warning “EXPLICIT LYRICS” on its Web pages
and in its print advertising.166 This advisory text is often presented in a large, easy-to-read notice.
CDNow.com and TWEC.com also place the term “explicit” next to promotions for labeled
albums and the term “edited” next to promotions for edited albums.167
However, because most advertisements for labeled recordings do not show the advisory
label, parents may not have the notice they need to decide what music is appropriate for their
children to purchase. Most teens and many pre-teens make music purchase decisions without
consulting their parents;168 therefore, advertisements may be parents’ only advance source of
information regarding the music their children are purchasing.
Finally, it appears that the utility of the advisory label as an effective notice to parents has
been diminished by the industry’s lack of guidance on the marketing of explicit-content labeled
music recordings to children. Section V of this Report discusses the efforts marketers have made

29

to reach children directly and to influence their purchases regardless of the parental advisory
label.

D.

Recent Changes to the Music Recording Labeling Program

In late August 2000, the RIAA recommended revisions to the parental advisory label
program, to be effective October 1, 2000. According to the recommendation, the RIAA now
asks that industry members: 1) use general guidelines, included in the RIAA memorandum, to
determine whether a recording warrants a parental advisory label; 2) adopt a policy that the
parental advisory label or other prominent notice of explicit content should appear in print
advertising for explicit-labeled recordings and that advertising for explicit-content labeled
recordings should not appear in publications, Web sites, or other commercial outlets whose
primary (i.e., 50% or more) market demographic is 16 years of age or younger; and 3) adopt a
policy that the parental advisory label should appear prominently in online retail sites in all stages
of the transaction and that online retail sites should link to the entertainment industry’s Web site,
www.parentalguide.org, where more information on the rating and labeling systems may be
found. Further, the RIAA committed to conducting an annual review of its policies and their
implementation. These are constructive changes that begin to address several of the concerns
outlined above; whether and how they will be implemented is not yet known. This Report’s
analysis of the music recording industry’s self-regulatory program is based on the program in
effect up until September 2000.

V. MARKETING MUSIC RECORDINGS TO CHILDREN
A.

Background

Information submitted by the recording companies shows that they market their explicitcontent labeled recordings at two levels. First, they advertise and market their recordings
directly, assuming responsibility for the design of the materials and the dissemination of the
promotions in a variety of venues, including print, broadcast and cable television, in-store
displays, radio airplay, music videos, “street marketing,” artist appearances on cable music
television programming, and contests on Internet Web sites. Second, they promote music

30

recordings through cooperative advertising agreements with retailers, wholesalers, and other
distributors of music.169 Marketing efforts often begin several weeks before the release of a
recording and can continue long after.

B.

Marketing Explicit Content Recordings to Children

The Commission’s review of marketing documents indicates that the recording companies
often market explicit-content labeled recordings to a wide demographic, including a significant
under-17 audience. Fifteen of the 55 marketing plans (27%) the Commission studied expressly
identified teenagers as part of the group to which the companies planned on marketing the
explicit recordings. Examples of express statements regarding the recordings’ target audience
include:
“Target audience: Hip-Hop, Crossover, Pop, Male/Female – 14-34"
“Target audience: Alternative/urban, rock, pop, hardcore 12-34"
“target demographic are 15-30 males and females of various ethnic backgrounds who are into
hip hop.”
“the 13-35 year old male demographic; which as we know is our target demo.”
Others more generally discuss promoting explicit recordings to “teens” and distributing materials
at high schools or in popular teen venues.170
Although the marketing documents for the remaining 40 explicit-content labeled recordings
did not expressly set forth the age of the target audience,171 they detailed the same methods of
marketing as the plans that specifically identified teens as a part of their target audience,
including placing advertising in media that would reach a majority or substantial percentage of
children under 17.

1.

Print advertising

The recording companies routinely use print advertising to promote their explicit-content
labeled recordings to children under 17. The marketing materials for 39 out of 55 labeled
recordings (70%) discussed placing ads in magazines with a majority or significant teen audience
(such as Blaze, GamePro, Metal Edge, Right On!, Seventeen, Skateboarding, Thrasher, Vibe, and
YM).172 These magazines have an under-18 readership of between 40 and 80%.173

31

The recording companies also encouraged and closely tracked the placement in these
publications of feature stories about their artists who had released explicit-content labeled
recordings. The marketing plans for 11 explicit-content labeled recordings indicated that such
features were scheduled to run in publications with a majority or substantial teen audience.
In addition, the Commission reviewed the music advertising in recent issues of nine
magazines with a majority or substantial teen readership audience and found ads for explicitcontent labeled recordings in each magazine.174

2.

Television promotions – cable music channels

Television cable channels that show music videos and other music-related programming
figure prominently in the marketing of explicit-content labeled recordings to children under 17.
The marketing plans almost uniformly discuss airing music videos and placing advertisements
and promotions on three music cable channels – MTV, BET, and/or The Box – all of which
target and reach viewers between the ages of 12 and 34.175
The recording companies’ marketing materials show that these companies often:
<

advertise the release of labeled recordings during cable music programming;

<

submit for airplay music videos of songs that appear on labeled recordings;

<

encourage appearances by the artist on cable music programs; and

<

arrange promotional activities with cable music channels, such as contests and
special features on the artist.176

In addition, many of the marketing documents discuss securing promotions on specific cable
music programs that appear during popular after-school and early-prime-time shows, such as
MTV’s Total Request Live and Jams Countdown and BET’s Rap City. A review of these cable
programs confirms that advertisements for labeled recordings, and music videos for songs from
these recordings, appear on these channels during after-school and prime-time hours.177

3.

Other television advertisements

The marketing materials for the music recordings placed significantly less emphasis on
network and non-music cable television advertising than did the plans for motion pictures.

32

Nonetheless, several of the marketing plans indicated that the recording companies intended to
advertise and promote explicit-content labeled recordings on television programs with large
under-17 audiences, such as The Simpsons, South Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and various
wrestling programs.178

4.

Internet marketing

The Commission found that Internet advertising and promotion is an integral part of most of
the marketing plans for explicit recordings. There is every indication that the companies will
continue to increase their marketing of labeled recordings over the Internet: as one marketing
plan noted, “Internet marketing and promotions is the wave of the future.” Such marketing
efforts easily reach a young audience,179 and surveys of teens indicate that a significant
percentage of children are listening to music on and obtaining music from Internet Web sites.180
Promoting a labeled recording over the Internet usually involves setting up an artist Web site
or Web page (as part of a recording company site) where consumers can listen to short samples
of songs (audio clips) from explicit recordings.181 These sites link to others, including artists’
sites, and recording company and retail sites, from which recordings can be previewed, ordered,
or downloaded. The recording companies also promote explicit-content labeled recordings
through popular music sites, including mtv.com, bet.com, launch.com, and ubl.com. Several of
the marketing plans for labeled recordings also detailed their use of electronic mail to alert fans
about upcoming releases. Children under 17 constitute a significant percentage of the audience
on these music Web sites.182

5.

Street marketing

Most of the marketing materials the Commission examined included plans to promote
explicit-content labeled recordings through the use of aggressive “street marketing
campaigns.”183 The companies use “street teams” to distribute a variety of promotional materials
at non-traditional venues such as concerts, sporting goods stores, street fairs, and trendy clothing
stores. The promotional materials involved include “coming soon” banners, posters, postcards,

33

window displays, flyers, cassette and CD samplers, locker posters, key chains, t-shirts, hats,
pencils, baseball cards, CDs, and “scratch and win” promotions.
Street marketing efforts also include outdoor advertising for labeled recordings on billboards,
posters at bus shelters, bus stop benches, buildings, and street poles. Several plans discussed
attaching promotions for the labeled recordings to public buses, ice cream trucks, and shuttle
vans that drive through urban neighborhoods.
In efforts geared specifically to the under-17 audience, several plans discussed distributing
promotional materials for, and playing music and music videos from, explicit recordings in
sporting goods and apparel stores popular with teens, such as Foot Action and Downtown Locker
Room.184 One plan also discussed distributing singles from a labeled recording for play at “Back
To High School” parties.

6.

Radio

Radio is an important medium for reaching the youth market. Many of the marketing
documents the Commission reviewed described plans to seek heavy radio play of singles from
explicit-content labeled recordings on radio stations with a primary audience of 12- to 24-yearolds. These documents emphasized placings ads and other promotions, such as concert ticket
giveaways, album giveaways, and a variety of prize promotion contests, on these stations. In
addition, several of the marketing plans provided for on-air artist interviews on these stations.

7.

Licensing

Like the motion picture and electronic game companies, the recording companies often
cross-market their products through licensing agreements. The companies agree to the use of
songs from explicit-content labeled recordings in other products marketed to teens, such as
movies, video games, and television programs. Several companies licensed songs from labeled
albums for use in R-rated movies that the movie studios promoted to an audience of 12- to 17year-olds. One company licensed music from explicit-labeled recordings for use in PG and PG13 movies.

34

The recording companies also licensed music from explicit-content labeled recordings for
use in electronic games. One company licensed music from labeled recordings for use on a
“fighting” game rated M (“Mature” audiences) that marketing documents indicated was targeted
to 12- to 24-year-olds. Two companies approved the use of music from explicit-content labeled
recordings on E-rated (“Everyone”) video games. Further, the companies provided agreements
authorizing the use of music from labeled recordings in programs and networks popular with
teens. One marketing plan detailed a cross-marketing effort involving a contest with a clothing
company whose products are “targeted to men and women 12-24,” and also discussed using the
contest as a means to “gather tens of thousands of e-mail addresses.”

C.

Retailing of Music Recordings

Recordings with an explicit content label are sold at specialty music stores, large electronics
retailers, department stores, and on the Internet, among other locations. The eight music retailers
the Commission contacted take a variety of approaches toward selling labeled recordings.185 Of
the six of these music retailers with “bricks and mortar” stores:
<

Two have company-wide policies restricting the purchase of labeled recordings in
their retail stores by the age of the purchaser. One has a written policy not to sell
any labeled CDs to “children,” which some individual stores within the chain
define as anyone age 17 and under. The other said its policy is not to sell
recordings that display the advisory label to anyone under 13 years of age without
a parent or guardian present.

<

Three do not place any restrictions on in-store purchases of explicit recordings by
children of any age.

<

One does not carry recordings with a parental advisory label in its stores, stocking
only the edited versions of these recordings.

Seven of the eight retailers contacted by the Commission sell explicit music on their Web sites;
none imposes any age restrictions on online purchasers of explicit music.

35

The undercover shopper study
conducted for the Commission

FTC Mystery Shopper Survey
Music

confirms that retail stores rarely

(383 Shoppers)

restrict children from purchasing
explicit-labeled music. In that
survey of 383 music stores,
unaccompanied children ages 13-16
were able to buy an explicit-content

time.

12%

NO

88%

YES

85%

NO

15%

YES

16%

NO

84%

Was Child Able to Make Purchase?

labeled recording 85% of the
186

YES
Was Rating Information Posted?

Moreover, only about 12% Did Employee Ask Age?

of the music stores posted
information about the parental advisory system or about the store’s sales policy regarding
explicit-content labeled recordings.187

VI. THE ELECTRONIC GAME INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATORY SYSTEM
The ESRB rating system is unique because it provides information about both ageappropriateness AND content elements that may be of interest or concern. The ratings
and content descriptors are designed to help parents exercise control over the computer
and video games their children play.
– Entertainment Software Rating Board188
Beginning in the early 1990’s, Congress responded to concern about the violent content in
some electronic games with hearings and legislative proposals. Although no legislation was
enacted, several members of Congress were critical of the electronic game industry for its lack of
a self-regulatory system to rate electronic games.189 In 1994, industry members formed the
Interactive Digital Software Association (“IDSA”) to address this criticism.190 The IDSA, in
turn, created and funded a separate division, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (“ESRB”),
to develop an interactive software rating system to assist parents in their efforts to select
appropriate games for their children.191

36

The Interactive Digital
Software Association
1211 Connecticut Ave., NW,
#600
Washington, D.C. 20036
202.223.2400
www.idsa.com

The IDSA/ESRB system rates game software
published for all gaming platforms, including cartridgebased and CD-based console systems (such as the
Nintendo 64, the Sega Dreamcast, and the Sony
Playstation, which hook up to a television set) and
personal computer-based systems (such as a Windows-

based PC or a Macintosh). The ESRB’s rating symbol can be found on all console-based video
games and on nearly all personal computer software games.192
The electronic game industry’s self-regulatory system is the most comprehensive of the three
industry systems studied by the Commission. It is widely used by industry members and has
been revised repeatedly to address new challenges, developments, and concerns regarding the
practices of its members. Its requirements are set out in the IDSA’s Advertising Code of Conduct
(“Adcode”), first adopted in 1995, and in the ESRB’s Principles and Guidelines for Responsible
Advertising Practices (“Ad Principles”), which became effective in January 2000.193

A.

Scope of Commission’s Review

To evaluate the electronic game industry’s self-regulatory system, the Commission obtained
information from the IDSA and the ESRB concerning the development and enforcement of the
self-regulatory mechanisms they established for industry members. To assess industry members’
use of those self-regulatory mechanisms, the Commission contacted 11 video and personal
computer game publishers and obtained marketing and media plans for over 200 games194 that
the ESRB had rated as containing violent content, including plans for most of the best-selling
Mature-rated games from the last three years.195

37

B.

Operation of the Electronic Game Self-Regulatory System
1.

The rating process

According to the ESRB, each electronic game title is
rated by three people who have no ties to industry and
whose identities remain anonymous to industry
members. The rating panel for any given game title is
selected from a pool of more than 200 individuals with

Entertainment Software
Rating Board
845 Third Avenue
New York, NY, 10022
212.759.0700
www.esrb.org

different demographic characteristics; members of the
pool vary by gender, ethnicity, age, and marital and parental status.196 Each three-member panel
rates a game based on materials submitted by the game publisher or developer, typically
videotaped footage of the most extreme portions of the game.197 During this review, each rater
records every instance in which he or she observes a segment of gameplay that qualifies under a
particular content rating category. When at least two of the three raters apply the same rating
category to the same segment of the game, that rating category becomes the consensus rating for
the game.198
The IDSA/ESRB system rates game titles according to five age-based categories: (1) Early
Childhood, or “EC”; (2) Everyone, or “E”;199 (3) Teen, or “T”; (4) Mature, or “M”; and
(5) Adults Only, or “AO.”200 By definition, game titles rated M contain content suitable only for
persons ages 17 and older, and T-rated titles contain content suitable only for persons ages 13
and older. There is also a Rating Pending category (“RP”) to indicate that a game has been
submitted to, but not yet rated by, the ESRB.201 According to the ESRB, nearly 75% of games
have been rated either EC or E, while 19% have a T rating, 7% have an M rating, and less than
1% have an AO rating.202
The current rating icons appear as follows:203

As in the motion picture rating system, a descriptive phrase may be assigned to the letter
rating to indicate content that might be of concern to parents, such as language, sexual themes, or

38

violence.204 Descriptors reflecting violent content include “Mild Animated Violence,”205 “Mild
Realistic Violence,”206 “Comic Mischief,”207 “Animated Violence,”208 “Realistic Violence,”209
“Animated Blood and Gore,”210 “Realistic Blood and Gore,”211 “Animated Blood,”212 and
“Realistic Blood.”213
The clear majority of games, such as sports and racing games or strategy and puzzle games,
do not contain graphic violence or depict blood and gore. Yet hundreds of games do, and, due to
technological advances,214 it is now possible for the maiming and killing depicted in those games
to be inflicted with a vast array of weaponry and illustrated in graphic, near lifelike detail.215 The
descriptors, however, do not indicate the intensity of violence in a game. All the violence
descriptors but two – “Animated Blood and Gore” and “Realistic Blood and Gore” – may appear
in E-rated games. Games rated T, M, or AO may be assigned any of the violence descriptors.
Although the M-rating may suggest a greater level of violence compared to T- and E-rated
games, the particular game may have received the M-rating for content other than violence (e.g.,
strong sexual content).216 Thus, although the descriptors, when combined with the ratings, do
provide parents with information that is helpful in making decisions as to what is appropriate for
their children,217 the degree of violence may not always be apparent.218

2.

Requirements for packaging, advertising, and marketing
a.

Disclosure of rating information on product packaging and in
advertising

Unlike the film and music industries, the electronic game industry requires the display of
rating icons and, in most cases, content descriptors (e.g., “Realistic Blood and Gore”) on
packaging, in print ads, and online. It also requires television ads to include a voice-over stating
the game’s rating. Specific requirements include:
<

display of the rating icon on the front of the package and any content descriptors
on the back;

<

display of the rating icon on all game cartridges, compact discs, and floppy disks;

<

display of the rating icon and content descriptors219 in print advertisements;

<

display of the rating icon and a voice-over220 of the rating in televison ads; and

39

<

display of the rating icon on game Web sites and on pages where a game “demo”
(an abbreviated version of the game) or trailer is accessed, and display of the
rating icon and content descriptors on product ordering pages.

Although the Adcode expressly includes banner ads221 on Web sites within its very broad
definition of online advertising, it does not require that banner ads contain either rating icons or
content descriptors. Nor does the IDSA Adcode cover ads for products related to electronic
games, such as action figures or other products licensed by game manufacturers.
The Commission reviewed product packaging, recent print and television advertising, and
industry Web sites promoting particular games to assess industry compliance with the disclosure
requirements. This review, described in Appendix J (Electronic Game Industry Compliance with
Self Regulatory Code Requirements to Disclose Ratings Information on Product Packaging, in
Advertising, and Online), found a high level of compliance with the packaging requirements and
with requirements concerning proper visual disclosure of the rating and voice-overs of rating
information in television ads. Industry compliance was mixed, however, with respect to the
requirement to display ratings and content descriptors in print advertising,222 although it appears
that compliance levels are improving. Compliance with the rating disclosure requirements for
industry Web sites was poor. Although most sites complied with the basic requirement to
display the ESRB rating, many failed to display the rating icon on pages where a demo could be
downloaded or viewed, and only a few displayed required descriptors at the point where one
could order a game.
To its credit, the IDSA has taken several steps to encourage industry members to comply
with these requirements. It has contacted many individual game publishers regarding their
noncompliance with the rating display requirements for packaging, print, and television
advertising.223 For packaging violations, the IDSA has asked the violator to place a hold on any
future shipments of games with noncompliant packaging and to distribute stickers containing the
correct rating information for retailers to apply on any packaging already in stores.224 For
advertising violations, the IDSA has generally asked the publisher to avoid future
noncompliance. None of the documents submitted to the Commission revealed an instance when

40

a violation resulted in a fine or a revocation of the ESRB rating, which the IDSA has the power
to seek.225
Even though most advertisements and packaging comply with the requirements to display
rating information, consumer familiarity with and usage of the IDSA/ESRB system appear to be
low. According to the Commission’s May-June 2000 survey of parents and children, 61% of
parents were aware of a rating system for video games, but only 37% had both heard of and had
more than slight familiarity with the rating system.226 A bare majority of parents who claimed to
be aware of and at least slightly familiar with the rating system said they use the rating at least
some of the time when their children want to play a video game.227 However, just over half of
those parents could correctly state that the rating system provides for both age-based ratings and
content descriptors, and less than half could name a single one of the ESRB ratings unaided or
distinguish the ESRB ratings from rating terminology used in the music or motion picture
industries.228
Other studies have demonstrated similarly low levels of familiarity and use. An ESRBsponsored survey of parents in 1999 found that 45% were aware of the electronic game rating
system, in contrast with 94% of respondents for the movie rating system and 60% for the music
labeling system.229 A 1999 survey commissioned by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that
about 53% of parents reported using ratings on electronic games.230 A smaller survey conducted
by the National Institute on Media and the Family in 1998 suggested a lower level of use, finding
that 40% of parents routinely looked at industry ratings before buying or renting computer or
video games.231
At the same time, the game rating system appears to be helpful to those parents who actually
use it. The Commission’s study found that five in six of those parents who use the video game
rating system at least some of the time when their children want to play a game were “very
satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the rating system.232 Similarly, the Kaiser Survey
reported that about 86% of parents who had used the rating system found it to be “very useful” or
“somewhat useful.”233 Eighty percent of respondents in the ESRB survey who had the
components of the IDSA/ESRB system described to them found the system “very helpful” or
“somewhat helpful.”234

41

As to violence, the Commission’s survey found that a majority of parents who are at least
slightly familiar with the system believe that the rating system does either an excellent (4%) or
good (50%) job of informing parents about the level of violence in video games.235 In contrast, a
Gallup poll conducted in June 1999 reported that 74% of respondents felt that the electronic
game industry did not provide parents with enough information about violent content to make
decisions about what is appropriate for children, while 20% believed that the information was
sufficient.236 However, respondents in that poll apparently were not screened for experience with
the system.

Parents’ Responses - Games
Who selects the product?
An adult
An adult and the child together
The child
Who purchases the product?
An adult
An adult and the child together
The child
Parent restricts child's use of the product
Parent is aware of a rating system for the product
How often do you use the rating system?
Some, most, or all of the time
Rarely or never
Are you satisfied with the rating system?
Somewhat or very satisfied
Somewhat or very dissatisfied
How does the rating system do in informing you about violence?
Good or excellent
Fair or poor
b.

17%
53%
29%
38%
45%
15%
68%
61%
52%
45%
77%
9%
55%
29%

Limits on violent content in advertising

The IDSA/ESRB system also governs the content of advertising. In the fall of 1999, the
IDSA created the Advertising Review Council (“ARC”) as a separate division of the ESRB.237 In
addition to being given responsibility to enforce the Adcode, as of January 31, 2000, ARC
became responsible for implementing, administering, and enforcing an expanded set of
42

Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising Practices (“Ad Principles”), which add
new requirements beyond the Adcode to assist companies in providing for “responsible,
appropriate, truthful and accurate advertising.”238 Companies that receive an ESRB rating agree
to comply with the Ad Principles and to cooperate with all of ARC’s reviews, investigations, and
inquiries.239
The IDSA charged ARC with ensuring that industry ads comply with the following four
principles. An advertisement should:
<

accurately reflect the nature and content of the game and the rating issued;

<

not glamorize or exploit the ESRB rating;240

<

be created with a sense of responsibility towards the public; and

<

not contain any content that may cause serious or widespread offense to the
average consumer.241

With regard to the violent content of ads, ARC will examine, among other things, whether ad
copy includes graphic and/or excessive depictions of violence.242
Because the Ad Principles only recently took effect, ARC’s initial efforts to foster
compliance have focused principally on educating members about their requirements.243
Nonetheless, the Commission’s review of recent ads in game enthusiast magazines shows several
instances of ad copy for M-rated games that might be covered by these Principles, such as an ad
that states, “the huge 15 foot genetically engineered Behemoth rips the cop’s heart out and like a
rag doll tosses his lifeless body across the room” or an ad that promises “more powerful
weapons” and urges gamers to “exercise your trigger finger.”244 It is not clear whether ARC or
the IDSA would consider these examples to violate the letter or spirit of the Ad Principles.
ARC officials expect that compliance with the Ad Principles will be enhanced by the
decision of leading game enthusiast magazine publishers to incorporate the Ad Principles into
their ad acceptance practices.245 It remains to be seen, however, whether the game magazines
will be effective in screening out excessive violence from game ads. In answering a recent letter
from a young reader upset that his parents would not let him buy Resident Evil (an M-rated game

43

with violence descriptors), the editor for one of the most popular game magazines responded as
follows:
We all know that Resident Evil is gory and violent; in fact, the series is rated “Mature”
by the ESRB – that means appropriate only for gamers 17 and older
. . . end of story. The fact that you own Turok and Quake [both M-rated games with
violence descriptors], but are not allowed to play Resident Evil, indicates that your
parents are somewhat befuddled by video games. . . . Most parents are simply protective
of their kids, however, and yours are probably making a decision with your best interests
in mind. Why not find a pal who has Res Evil and enjoy the classic series that way?246
c.

Limits on marketing to minors

Unlike the movie and music recording industries, the electronic game industry does prohibit
marketing targeted to children under the age suggested in the game’s rating. Since 1995, the
IDSA Adcode has barred industry members from “specifically target(ing) advertising . . . for
entertainment software products rated Teen, Mature, or Adults Only to consumers for whom the
product is not rated as appropriate.”247 According to the IDSA, this provision is intended to
prohibit a company from advertising a game rated Teen or Mature in, for example, the Barbie
Magazine.248 In a 1998 letter, the IDSA emphasized that the “anti-targeting provision is
important to the integrity of the rating system and is meant to ensure that young people are not
encouraged to play games that are not suitable for them.”249 As discussed in the next Section of
this Report, however, nearly all the industry members contacted by the Commission appear to
have targeted their marketing to audiences that include a high percentage of children for whom
the products are rated as not suitable.

VII.
A.

MARKETING ELECTRONIC GAMES TO CHILDREN
Background

Publishers of electronic games rely heavily on print advertising, especially in gaming
enthusiast magazines, and make frequent use of Internet and television advertising to promote
new game titles.250 Other promotional tactics used by one or more industry members include: instore displays at major game and toy retailers;251 the giveaway of sampler or “demo” disks of the
game in popular gaming magazines; the aggressive solicitation of online and print press

44

coverage, particularly for previews, reviews, and magazine covers; the creation of “official” Web
sites or Web pages for a game title where browsers can learn about the game, view game clips, or
download an abbreviated

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/agency%3Aftc%3A9f77b08242661283. Public record. Not legal advice.