FTC releases report on violence in the media

Have you ever been offended by content found in today's media? Are you concerned about your child's exposure to themes of violence, drugs, language, and sex? Does it have an effect on your child? Are the entertainment industries purposely targeting your children as potential consumers?

In the aftermath of an alarming number of school shootings, President Clinton ordered a Federal Trade Commission report on the marketing of violent movies, music, and videogames to children and teenagers. The FTC released their report on September 11, 2000, and their findings seem to confirm what many have suspected for some time.

The Executive Summary of the report reveals, "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." However, the report goes on to say, "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" (italics added).

President Clinton asked for the answer to 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?

In the case of each industry, the answer to the President's questions was a resounding yes. Following are highlights taken from the FTC findings:

• Movies:
  • 44 movies rated R for violence were studied.
  • 35 (80 percent) were targeted to children under 17.
  • Marketing plans for 28 of the 44 (64 percent) contained express statements that the film's target audience included children under 17.
  • Examples included a plan that 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."
  • Marketing plans for seven other films did not specifically state an intended audience, but led the Commission to believe children under 17 were still being targeted.
  
  
• Music:
  • 55 music recordings bearing explicit content labels were studied.
  • Marketing plans for 15 (27 percent) expressly identified teenagers as part of their target audience.
  • One such plan stated its "Target audience" was "Alternative/urban, rock, pop, hardcore - 12-34."
  • While the remaining 40 did not expressly state the age of the target audience, they detailed the same methods of marketing, including placing ads in media that would reach a majority or substantial percentage of children under 17.
  
  
• Games:
  • 118 electronic games with a Mature rating for violence were studied.
  • 83 (70 percent) targeted children under 17.
  • Marketing plans for 60 of the 118 (51 percent) expressly included children under 17 as part of their target audience.
  • The marketing plan for one game 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 23 other 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.