Focuses
On Advertising
FTC Media Violence
Report: Round Four
by Jonathan Yarowsky
NATO Washington Counsel
On June
28, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its fourth
report on violent content and the marketing practices of
the entertainment industry. This latest report focuses principally
on advertising placement; theatres receive relatively minor
treatment. However, the report does discuss theatre Websites
in some detail, and suggests the need to improve ratings
information on these sites. At the same time, it is clear
that the FTC will return to the subject of ratings compliance
at the box office in future reports.
Report
Summary:
Since
the first media violence report was issued in September
2000, the FTC has responded to congressional direction that
it supply periodic updates to its initial inquiry. This
fourth report “documents what further progress, if
any, has been made in the two areas examined in the Commission’s
previous follow-up reports – whether violent R-rated
movies, explicit-content labeled music, and M-rated games
are advertised in popular teen media, and whether rating
information is included in advertising for these products.”
The following areas should be of interest to NATO members:
Enforcement.
The FTC noted that NATO reports that many of its members
have made substantial efforts to: 1) train staff on ratings
enforcement; 2) add ratings enforcement compliance inspection
to the duties of managerial personnel who visit theater
locations and/or have permanent compliance officers to monitor
all theatres; and 3) post personnel at the auditorium entrance
for extreme R-rated films and all NC-17-rated films. The
FTC also makes positive reference to NATO members’
pledge not to show trailers for R-rated films before PG-rated
films and before PG-13-rated films on a case-by-case basis.
Ratings
information placement on theatre Websites. The FTC reviewed
a total of 16 theatre websites – 12 NATO member sites
and 4 non-member sites – with regard to placement of
ratings information. According to the FTC, there was only
one category where NATO sites provided less information
than non-NATO sites. The report finds that: 1) 100 percent
of NATO sites and 75 percent of non-member sites display
the actual movie ratings; 2) 50 percent of NATO sites and
no non-member sites display the reason for the rating; 3)
58 percent of NATO sites and 100 percent of non-member sites
provide information about the MPAA ratings system; 4) 83
percent of NATO sites and 75 percent of non-member sites
sell movie tickets online; and 5) 58 percent of NATO sites
and 75 percent of non-member sites link to ratings info
at MPAA.org,
parentalguide.org
or filmratings.com.
In the
report’s general conclusions about the motion picture
industry, the FTC acknowledges both the diligence and progress
made by the industry: “Industry members have greatly
improved the disclosure of rating information in advertising,
and the studios have enhanced efforts to avoid specifically
targeting teens for R-rated films.”
Ratings
and Reasons for Ratings in Ads. The FTC notes approvingly
that in response to its previous reports on violent content
issues in the movie industry, “NATO has also encouraged
the MPAA and the studios to include reasons for the ratings
of films in all print advertising.”
Report
Conclusion. With regard to the retail sector of the
industry (which, of course, includes NATO members), the
report states that the FTC “continues to encourage
retailers and theater owners to adopt or enforce policies
to discourage the sale of R- or M-rated or explicit content-labeled
entertainment products to children. Such a step would help
limit the influence of industry ad placements that promote
violent entertainment products in media popular with youth.
To encourage continued voluntary compliance and to document
any changes in self-regulatory efforts, the commission will
monitor the entertainment industry’s marketing practices
through the next year, and will then issue another follow-up
report.”
Unlike
earlier FTC reports on media violence, there was not included
a “mystery shopper survey” designed to evaluate
how theatres are enforcing the ratings at the box office.
Nonetheless, from the FTC’s statements at the report’s
conclusion, we should fully expect that a mystery shopper
survey will be part of the next report due this winter.
But the inclusion or omission of such a survey in any particular
FTC report is really beside the point, for, as good corporate
citizens, and as concerned members of the communities in
which we live, the need for NATO members to remain vigilant
at the box office in order to properly protect our children
is a civic duty, and not simply one imposed by a governmental
agency.
For
members who would like to read the full report, it is available
on the FTC Website at http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2002/
06/mvec0602rev.htm. 
