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27 March 2007: Horrified at the
brazen marketing campaign of some of
the horror-violence movies, the United
States government is gearing up check
Hollywood’s marketing of violent
entertainment to the young.
The Federal Trade Commission of the US
is putting the final touches on a
follow-up to its September 2000 report
on the marketing to children of
violent movies, music and video games.
The follow-up, the first such
assessment in three years, will
examine the selling practices of a
mainstream entertainment industry that
has increasingly centered on themes of
abduction, maiming, decapitations and
other ghastly acts from which once the
studios had kept away.
Seven years ago the film industry had
narrowly avoided federal regulation of
its advertising practices, as
politicians, in the wake of the
bizarre killings in the Columbine High
School, called executives before a
Congressional committee. However, it
was eventually agreed to let the
Hollywood police itself.
The effectiveness of the consequent
marketing guidelines is now being
tested by rougher movies, mostly made
by minor moviemakers not bound by the
strictures that apply to the members
of the Motion Picture Association of
America. And, a thriving Web culture
has allowed the promoters of severely
violent films like Saw or Hostel to
disregard any concern about the age of
the viewers.
If the new assessment were to find
that the movie industry has violated
or has outgrown its voluntary
standards, it might throw the issue
back into the political field ahead of
a presidential election. Which means
there would be calls for regulation.
Fans of horror movies date the genre’s
current boom to October 2004, 2006
when the first of Lionsgate’s Saw
movies, centered around a demonically
inventive serial killer, opened to a
surprisingly strong $18-million on its
first weekend. The film spawned
sequels and imitations.
Things become even more dismal when
studios, which often attempt to block
the underage from visiting their
official sites for R-rated movies,
opened the doors for set visits, early
viewings, promotional contests and
anything else that will attract fans.
The operators of several such sites
said they had no way of knowing how
many of their visitors were under 17,
but said they believed the numbers
were substantial.
In its 2004 report, the Federal Trade
Commission had said that, in 36% of
their attempts, its underage “mystery
shoppers” were able to buy a movie
ticket without an age check in
theatres. Worse, 81% of the young
buyers obtained R-rated DVDs without a
check.
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