FTC wants tighter ship

Remember a few weeks back when the New York Times called this site out for being a huge part of the problem when it comes to advertising R rated movies to those under 17? Wasn’t that a fun article? Well, today Variety is reporting that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must have been taking notes, as they’re back at it, trying to blame the industry for the violence in our streets.

The FTC recently did a report to see if the voluntary guidelines set by the film/entertainment industry is actually having an effect on how R rated content is advertised and sold in stores. According to the FTC, adult (as in R or M rated) content is still being advertised to kids, and kids are still able to pick up R rated and unrated DVDs at the store. Check out these stats: Using unaccompanied minors, federal researchers learned that 39% could buy a ticket to an R-rated movie last year, compared with 46% in 2000; 71% could buy an R-rated or unrated DVD (compared with 81%); 76% could buy an explicit-lyric CD (compared with 85%); and 42% could buy an M-rated vidgame (compared with 85%, marking the greatest decline).

If that wasn’t enough, the FTC is also blaming the advertising on sites such as this one, where R rated content is advertised to ANYONE under 17. Report also noted that the movie industry has adopted no standard for Internet advertising and pointed out that “violent R-rated movies were routinely advertised on Web sites popular with kids: 18 of the 20 movies studied by the commission were advertised on Web sites where more than a third of the audience was under 17. The increasing prevalence of marketing unrated DVDs containing content that might warrant an NC-17 rating, coupled with the poor performance of retailers in restricting the sales of such DVDs to unaccompanied children, is a particular cause for concern.”

Wow. At least they’ve finally started naming the REAL problem that lies within the purchasing of such restricted products: the retailers. How can Hollywood or DVD distributors actually regulate who is able to buy? That’s the store’s responsibility to mandate those rules! For example, did you know the country-raping ass-f*ck retailer known as WAL-MART (or straight EVIL in Latin) does not allow anyone under 17 to buy an R rated movie? Good for them! Oh… except they have NO age restrictions for purchasing UNRATED material! That’s right- little 5 year old Johnny could waltz into the devil’s market and pick up the latest DVD of HOSTEL and buy it without a problem! Ah yes… and the FTC is worried about Hollywood…

So what do you think of all this bullsh*t? You think Hollywood needs to run a tighter ship on it’s advertising and selling of R rated and unrated content? Spit some bullets below and let us know what YOU think! And if it so pleases you, click HERE to check out the full report.