The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) praised the video game industry for being the most reliable at turning down underage consumers from purchasing inappropriate content from stores.
In the FTC's "Marketing Violent Entertainment to Children" report, the video game industry was compared to the music and movie industries. The FTC sent decoys into stores to purchase video games, music and movies.
During the investigation, 80% of the time decoys were unsuccessful in purchasing rated M video games, but were denied 50% of the time when buying a rated R DVD, and just 30% when purchasing an explicit CD.
"It will be particularly important to address the challenges presented by emerging technologies -- such as mobile gaming -- that are quickly changing the ways that children access entertainment," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz noted in a statement.
In the future, the FTC hopes to see Hollywood and the music industry attempt to better educate parents regarding the content their children purchase. Movie studios also must make it easier for parents to understand that unrated movies can have bonus features, additional scenes, bloopers, and alternate endings, which could be deemed inappropriate for kids.
"The unrated movie DVDs are not only accepted in the marketplace, but they're proliferating," said Keith Fentonmiller, co-author of the FTC's report.
The FTC may recommend changes, but the movie industry isn't forced to make any significant changes it doesn't want to make.
Since moving to California, I've been carded almost every time while purchasing a video game, but have never been carded while purchasing a DVD or CD. However, I'm still carded each time I go to see a rated R movie, even though most people would argue I look older than the required age to get into a movie theater without a parent or guardian.
