Children Easily Buying Adult-Rated DVDs,
Video Games and Music, FTC Survey Finds

Industries show minimal improvement, but self-regulation
is clearly failing families, parent group says

October 16, 2003 Three years after a landmark Federal Trade Commission report found that the movie, video game and music industries were "pervasively and aggressively" marketing adult-rated products to children, an undercover survey shows that a majority of children are still able to buy adult-rated video games, movies on DVD and music. While the survey showed some minimal movement in the right direction, all three industries have a long way to go in enforcing their own ratings systems at the retail level.

The FTC "undercover survey" showed that the most significant improvement in enforcement occurs at the movie theater box office: only 36 percent of unaccompanied minors were able to buy tickets for R-rated movies. But the report also revealed a troubling new trend: 81 percent of minors were able to purchase the DVD version of R-rated movies.

DVD and home video sales now account for more than 58 percent of Hollywoods income, and DVD sales are the fastest-growing component of that revenue. So while the majority of teens are turned away at the box office, they can easily purchase those same films at the retail level. Teens are Hollywoods favorite demographic, as they routinely see favorite films numerous times. Not surprisingly, R-rated action-adventure films are the best-selling DVDs.

"While some progress has been made in box office sales, it is clear that violent and adult-rated movies, music, and video games are still being sold to children at unacceptably high levels," says Daphne White, executive director of The Lion & Lamb Project. Lion & Lamb is a national advocacy parents group working to stop the marketing of violent entertainment products to children.

The survey also raises questions about the industries much-vaunted self-regulatory efforts. The video game industry, for example, boasts of having a better ratings system than the other industries, yet 69 percent of unaccompanied minors were able to purchase adult-rated video games in stores.

The video game industry has been the most aggressive in suing every city and county that tried to pass laws to prevent the sale of adult-rated video games to minors. They have sued or threatened to sue local governments in more than a dozen cases. Yet in 2003, more than two out of three children can still purchase ultra-violent games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City at retail stores.

"At this rate of change, it will take more than a decade years before Mature-rated games are no longer sold to children," White says. "That means that todays first-graders will have graduated from high school before industry voluntarily stops selling adult-rated products to them. This unacceptably slow rate of change shows a shocking level of corporate irresponsibility. Clearly, industry is not serious about self-regulating and we need to take binding action."

Lion & Lamb supports federal legislation sponsored by Congressman Joe Baca (D-CA), which would make it illegal to sell adult-rated video games to children. This bill does not infringe on the First Amendment, as it does not prohibit the publication or sale of any video game: it just seeks to protect minors from buying ultra-violent games.

The music industry has been the most intransigent when it comes to self-regulation, and has refused to develop any parental rating system whatsoever. The industry simply places a "Parental Advisory Label" on certain products, although companies are not required to disclose why a particular recording received a warning label. When the FTC conducted its first underage shopper survey three years ago, 85 percent of underage children were able to buy labeled items in stores. That percentage went up to 90 percent in the 2001 survey, and is now at 83 percent. While the FTC survey labeled this a "significant change," Lion & Lamb finds the change absolutely insignificant.

Daphne White, an outspoken activist against violent entertainment targeted to children, is available for interviews in reaction to this report. White, who has testified before Congress on this issue, founded The Lion & Lamb Project in 1995. Lion & Lamb releases an annual list of the Dirty Dozen violent toys and games and the Top Twenty creative and nonviolent toys every holiday season. She is available for interviews and can be reached at 301-654-3091.