FTC says content curbs fall short

The Federal Trade Commission gave Hollywood mixed ratings Thursday on shielding youngsters from images of death, destruction and other violent content.

The agency noted positive changes since a landmark report seven years ago -- particularly by video game retailers, which have dramatically cut the availability of mature-rated games to undercover teen shoppers.

But the FTC said the entertainment industry still had a long way to go. About three-quarters of children younger than 17 were able to buy music that contained parental warning labels. About four in 10 could purchase M-rated video games and tickets to R-rated movies, according to the 140-page study.

The agency also said advertisements for violent movies, music and video games on TV shows and websites popular with young children were a growing problem. So were unrated “directors’ cut” DVD versions of movies that had received R ratings.

“This latest FTC report shows improvement, but also indicates that the entertainment industry has more work to do,” said the agency’s chairwoman, Deborah Platt Majoras.

The findings come as lawmakers are considering a crackdown on TV violence and the sales of violent video games, and advocacy groups are complaining about increasingly bold marketing of horror films. The FTC’s authority doesn’t extend to television programming.

The new study is the most comprehensive follow-up to a 2000 FTC report that slammed Hollywood for marketing violence to children. The agency determined that it lacked the authority to regulate such content and urged the major entertainment industries to launch voluntary programs, which they did.

“We just need to continue to expand these programs and be vigilant with them so the numbers can get even better,” said John Fithian, president of the National Assn. of Theatre Owners.

Earlier in the decade, tougher enforcement by theater operators led to a drop in the number of underage FTC shoppers able to buy tickets to R-rated movies -- from 46% in 2000 to 36% in 2003. But in 2006, the figure increased to 39%.

Purchases of CDs marked with warnings for explicit lyrics improved, from 83% in 2003 to 76% in 2006, but the FTC said the figure was still too high.

Video game retailers showed the biggest improvement. The ability of teens to buy M-rated games dropped from 85% in 2000 to 69% in 2003, and then again to 42% in 2006.

“A lot of attention has been paid by retailers to their voluntary programs,” said Bo Anderson, president of the Entertainment Merchants Assn., an Encino-based organization representing video game and DVD sellers.

Last June, the seven biggest retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Blockbuster Inc., signed a “Commitment to Parents” to better enforce ratings that prohibit sales to children.

“There’s still lots of room for improvement,” said Melissa Caldwell, senior director of programs at the Parents Television Council, an advocacy group that opposes the marketing of violence to children.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com