Hollywood Will Help to Police PG-13 TV Ads
John Eggerton
Broadcasting & Cable
March 4, 2008
The Better Business Bureau's Children's Advertising
Review Unit is getting the Motion Picture Association of
America involved in reviewing complaints it receives
about ads for PG-13 movies that air during TV shows
primarily targeted toward kids under 12.
According to CARU, the ad industry's self-regulatory arm
for children's advertising, it reached an agreement with
the MPAA in which it will refer advertisers that
intentionally place PG-13 ads during kids’ shows to the
MPAA to determine whether they have violated
movie-industry guidelines for such advertising.
Previously, CARU was making that determination.
The MPAA has its own ad-screening arm. Studios that
submit their movies for ratings to the MPAA's
Classification and Ratings Administration (CARA, not to
be confused with CARU) must also submit their ads to the
Motion Picture Advertising Administration to make sure
they are suitable for the target audiences, particularly
kids.
So is this a case of the Fox being asked to regulate the
chicken house? "The MPAA’s film Classifications and
Ratings Administration's (CARA) process and CARA's
advertising review process are both independent of the
studios," said Lee Peeler, President and CEO of the
National Advertising Review Council, which sets CARU
policies. "We see this as good self-regulation that will
combine CARU’s independent ad monitoring with MPAA’s
rating expertise. "
"Although there is no question that an “R” rated film
may not be advertised on media primarily directed to
kids under 12, " says Peeler, "the PG-13 category
contains a wide range of films, from those clearly
inappropriate for children under 12, to films like Harry
Potter.
"Most importantly the new approach adds an important
level of enforceability which was missing from our prior
approach. Normally CARU refers cases of non-compliance
to the government. With respect to film ratings however,
the courts have repeatedly dismissed effort by the
government to enforce film ratings. MPAA, by contrast,
has significant sanctions with which to enforce its
decisions. "
CARU has been pushing the movie industry not to
advertise PG-13 films during children's shows, but it
got pushback from some studios. CARU generally frowns on
advertising PG-13 movies during kids’ shows since that
designation defines the movie as containing scenes that
may not be appropriate for children.
Studios have argued that the movies aren't de facto
unsuitable for kids, and that kids can watch them with
parental guidance.
CARU picked the same bone with Disney last year over its
advertising of Pirates of the Caribbean on Nickelodeon,
with 20th Century Fox over X-Men: The Last Stand and
with Lionsgate over Employee of the Month, in the last
instance referring Lionsgate to the Federal Trade
Commission, which is essentially as much enforcement
power as CARU has.
Peeler said CARU approached MPAA about stepping in, and
that it will rely on MPAA's "significant sanctions" for
those who do not comply with MPAA's decisions.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, a
coalition of children's-advocacy groups, called on the
FTC last summer to investigate PG-13 movies advertised
during children's TV shows.
The group was prompted to write by the marketing of the
Transformers movie, which contained "intense sequences
of sci-fi action violence." Despite that content, the
movie was being advertised during children's TV
programming with a TV-Y rating -- a rating that signals
a show appropriate for kids as young as two -- they
said.