FTC: Violence still marketed to youths

April 13, 2007 Despite seven years of government scrutiny of the entertainment industry, young children still are able to buy R-rated movies, M-rated video games and music with adult lyrics, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. While the movie, music and electronic games industries generally have complied with voluntary standards regarding the display and ratings of their products, they continue to market some R-rated movies, M-rated video games, and explicit-content recordings on TV shows and Web sites with substantial teen audiences, the FTC said in its fifth report examining the marketing of violent material to kids. "Self-regulation, long a critical underpinning of U.S. advertising, is weakened if industry markets products in ways inconsistent with their ratings and parental advisories," FTC chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said.

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