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1 1 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 2 3 4 MARKETING VIOLENT ENTERTAINMENT TO CHILDREN: 5 A WORKSHOP ON INDUSTRY SELF-REGULATION 6 7 8 9 10 11 Wednesday, October 29, 2003 12 9:11 a.m. 13 14 15 16 Federal Trade Commission 17 FTC Conference Center 18 601 New Jersey Avenue, N.W. 19 Washington, D.C. 20 21 22 23 24 25 For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 2 1 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 2 I N D E X 3 4 Introductory Remarks: 5 By Chairman Timothy Muris -- 6 By The Honorable Frank Wolf -- 7 By The Honorable Joe Baca -- 8 9 Morning Session: 10 An Overview of the Rating and Labeling Systems -- 11 12 Dialogue Among Industry, Consumer and Research 13 Groups: Discussion of Rating and Labeling 14 System -- 15 16 Afternoon Session: 17 Cross-Marketing and Merchandising of Branded 18 Products -- 19 20 Retailers' In-Store and Online Practices -- 21 22 Next Steps -- 23 24 25 For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 3 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 - - - - - 3 CHAIRMAN MURIS: Good morning. Let's come on 4 and have a seat. Hi, I'm Tim Muris. I'm the Chairman of 5 the Federal Trade Commission and I'd like to welcome you 6 to our workshop on the Marketing of Violent Entertainment 7 to Children, and I want to thank you for joining us 8 today. I'd especially like to thank our distinguished 9 panelists for sharing their insights and expertise on 10 this very important topic. 11 As you know, the Federal Trade Commission has 12 issued four reports on the self-regulatory programs of 13 the motion picture, electronic games and music recording 14 industries. Now, we are working on a fifth report. 15 We've examined an important question for parents in the 16 entertainment industry, namely, whether these industries 17 promote products that they, themselves, acknowledge 18 warrant parental caution in venues where children make up 19 a substantial percentage of the audience. 20 Today, we have assembled an impressive group of 21 industry members, consumer and parent advocacy groups, 22 marketing experts and public health officials to discuss 23 and debate what needs to be done. I expect that during 24 the day we will hear about what has already been 25 accomplished and much more about what could still be For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 4 1 done. 2 When I testified last spring before the House 3 Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary 4 and related agencies of the Committee on Appropriations, 5 chaired by Congressman Frank Wolf, who is with us today, 6 I said that culture matters, and it continues to be true 7 today. Youth violence remains a troubling issue for all 8 of us. The exposure of our children to excessively 9 violent media, be it in our entertainment products or on 10 the news, remains a major worry for me as a parent, as 11 I'm sure it does for all of you. 12 At the same time, it is an area of free 13 expression in which the Government may tread only 14 cautiously. Parents must, in large part, rely on 15 themselves and on the self-regulatory efforts of 16 industry. But we in Government have a role of reporting 17 on and illuminating various aspects of this crucial 18 issue. Our approach today is designed to look at what 19 efforts are being made and how well they are working. 20 Let me begin with a few common sense principles 21 that I hope we all, or at least most of us, can agree on. 22 Industry should market its products consistent with their 23 ratings and parental advisories. Parents should have 24 access to useful information on the ratings for products 25 before they purchase them and retailers should consider For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 5 1 whether entertainment is rated or labeled as 2 inappropriate for children in adopting sales policies. 3 Again, I'd like to welcome you all here and 4 thank our panelists for their contributions, to what we 5 expect will be a productive and enlightening day. 6 Now, it is my privilege to introduce 7 Congressman Frank Wolf. He represents part of Fairfax 8 and Loudon Counties just across the river in Virginia and 9 was the first member of Congress I met with after my 10 confirmation as Chairman of the FTC in 2001. I'll let 11 you decide if the fact that he was our appropriator had 12 anything to do with the fact that that was my first 13 meeting. At that meeting and on several occasions since, 14 we discussed Congressman Wolf's strong commitment to 15 protecting children from the marketing of violent 16 entertainment products. 17 I know he has followed our reports on this 18 topic closely. On this and many other issues, the 19 Congressman has been very supportive of the FTC and its 20 mission through his position as Chairman of the Commerce, 21 Justice, State Subcommittee. He's a good friend of the 22 FTC's and we are very pleased to have him with us today. 23 Mr. Chairman. 24 CONGRESSMAN WOLF: Thank you, Tim. Good 25 morning, Chairman Muris. Thank you for holding this For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 6 1 important and timely workshop, and I appreciate the 2 opportunity to discuss a serious and a growing problem in 3 America today, the marketing of violent video games to 4 our children. 5 It is becoming nearly impossible to shield 6 minors from graphic violence. Exposure to these images 7 is taking a toll on our society. Now, children who -- 8 for whom we are all responsible, are seeing acts of 9 violence and then acting out what they see in the media 10 and in video games. The problem has grown so severe that 11 lawsuits are beginning and being filed against the 12 creators of some of these violent video games because 13 children are mimicking the violence they're watching. 14 I want you to watch a short video clip. We've 15 taken out most of the violence and, I think, the more 16 offensive stuff. You will see more of these images from 17 another speaker later today, but I thought you needed to 18 see a taste of what is being peddled to our children 19 today. 20 Could we see that short video? 21 (Video segment played.) 22 CONGRESSMAN WOLF: These images are hurting our 23 children. Some say there is no correlation between 24 viewing these images and committing acts of violence. I 25 disagree. It has been said, garbage in, garbage out. For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 7 1 The American Psychiatric Association concurs and it says, 2 I quote, "The debate is over. Over the last three 3 decades the one overriding finding in research on mass 4 media is that exposure to media portrayals of violence 5 increases aggressive behavior in children." 6 Think for a minute about the image, perhaps a 7 famous and beautiful painting or sounds, perhaps the 8 theme from the music of Chariots of Fire, or words, 9 perhaps a prayer from Mother Teresa for which you have 10 found positive inspiration or motivation. I believe that 11 society can be moved for good by what it sees or hears or 12 reads, but isn't the opposite just as logical? 13 If what society, especially the young and the 14 immature in society, sees or hears or reads is filled 15 with violence, is there not motivation associated with 16 these images toward the wrong kinds of behavior? We are 17 running out of time and turning the corner on protecting 18 our children from media violence. 19 The time has come for an aggressive plan, not 20 tomorrow, not next year, but today. How many more 21 Columbines must occur before effective action is taken to 22 keep violent material out of the hands of children? How 23 many more Paducahs? How many more Jonesboroughs. The 24 violence in video games is being acted out in our schools 25 and communities by children imitating the violent acts For The Record, Inc. Waldorf, Maryland (301)870-8025 8 1 they see. 2 For the well-being and safety of our children, 3 ways must be found to control the marketing of violent 4 entertainment. According to a recent Gallup poll, boys 5 age 13 to 17, more than 70 percent of them have played 6 the extremely popular video game, Grand Theft Auto. 7 Seventy percent. What good can come out of 70 percent of 8 the young people seeing that? What redeeming social 9 value is there to our society to even produce that, but 10 let alone to see the young people to see it? 11 The most recent installment called Vice City 12 allows players to kill policemen -- my dad was a 13 policeman -- pedestrians and the elderly. Players can 14 even have sex with a prostitute who they can then kill to 15 get their money back. 16 Grand Theft Auto is rated M for mature and is 17 not supposed to be sold to anyone under 17. Then how are 18 13-year-olds playing the game? How are 13-year-olds 19 playing the game and buying the game? How do they know 20 it to describe it as cool? The Gallup survey found that 21 children polled are imitating the violence they see in 22 Grand Theft Auto.

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