This past Monday, the Federal Trade Commission released a 104-page

report on the marketing of violent entertainment products to minors. The study, which

relies significantly on corporate memoranda intended for internal use only,

establishes that the movie, music, and electronic-game industries have “routinely

target[ed] children under 17 as the audience for that their own rating

or labeling systems say are inappropriate for children or warrant parental

caution due to their violent content.”

Highlights from the report:

— “The documents show that 35 of the 44 R-rated films studied by the

Commission, or 80%, were targeted to children under 17.”

— “The studios advertised violent R-rated movies to children under 17

with cable television campaigns that were remarkably similar to each other.

MTV, with its core demographic of 12-24, was the largest advertising cable

outlet for almost every motion picture the Commission examined