James Delahunty
13 Apr 2007 10:13
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has given the thumbs up to the games industry in a study released that explores the marketing of violent material to children. The study covers mainly video games, music and movies, comparing each industry's self-regulation efforts. It also examines how much each industry tends to market its adult or mature content to children.
The FTC found that each industry was in compliance "for the most part" with regulations prohibiting advertising adult products on TV shows or in magazines that are aimed toward a teenage or younger audience. It had harsh criticisms for Internet advertising which it described as "an increasingly important medium that reaches millions of children each day."
While it gave examples of movies, music and video games advertised on websites with a young target audience, it noted that only the gaming industry has rules that restrict web advertisements. Under the rules, advertisements for adult games are not to appear on websites that have youths under 17 as 45% or more of its audience.
The FTC also said the games industry has made great progress in enforcing its rules at retail. A "mystery shopper" test, which involved a child shopper attempting to buy products intended for an adult or mature audience at a selection of stores, gave the favorable result for the games industry.
Source:
Ars Technica