UNION
OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS CALLS ON HOLLYWOOD TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT
IN
LIGHT OF FEDERAL REPORT ON MARKETING VIOLENCE TO KIDS
Today,
the Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America – the nation’s largest
Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, through its Institute
for Public Affairs, responded to a Federal Trade
Commission report released today which documents how
entertainment companies market violent R-rated films, music
albums and video games to children under the age of 17.
The Orthodox Union announced that it would step up
its support for legislative initiatives requiring movies, TV
programs, music albums and video games to be labeled for
content and more tools to be given to parents to control
what messages their kids are exposed to.
The Union also called upon industry executives to
exercise greater self-control in developing and marketing
their products.
The
FTC report, ordered a year ago by President Clinton in
response to a request by Senators McCain, Lieberman, and
Brownback, details how movie studios market-tested
advertisements for R-rated films on children under 17
(including 10 and 12 year olds); it details how
advertisements for such films were placed in teen magazines
and comic books; and it also found that underage children
were allowed into R-rated movies at theatres nearly half the
time. The
report also found three-quarters of violent-rated video
games were knowingly marketed to 13-16 year olds.
Nathan
Diament, director for the Union’s public policy Institute,
issued the following statement in connection with today’s
release of the FTC report:
The
Orthodox Jewish community is deeply troubled by the findings
of the Federal Trade Commission with regard to the
entertainment industry’s intentional efforts to sell
violence, sex and crudity to America’s teenagers.
Parents have sensed for some time now that they were
fighting against heavy odds to “raise PG kids in an
R-rated culture;” now we’ve got the evidence to prove
it. The FTC
report shows how Hollywood, contrary to public denials, uses
its most sophisticated research and marketing techniques to
expose our kids to violent and sexually explicit
entertainment. It’s
time for them to stop; it’s time for them to clean up
their act and stop working at odds with America’s parents.
We
are grateful to President Clinton and Senators McCain,
Lieberman and Brownback for requesting this report and to
the FTC for conducting it.
###
