With summer vacation on its way later this month in most parts of the country and with children looking for things to do when they aren't outside, it makes perfect sense that June has been declared Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month by DiMA, EMA, NARM, and NATO (no, not THAT NATO).
The Digital Media Association (DiMA), Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), and National Association of Theatre Owners are calling on theatre owners and retailers of movies, music, and video games to highlight and emphasize the motion picture and video game ratings and music labeling systems to their customers.
“Entertainment Ratings and Labeling Awareness Month” is sponsored by the four trade associations through their Coalition of Entertainment Retail Trade Associations (CERTA). It is declared annually to promote the use of entertainment ratings and labels by encouraging retailers to review their ratings and labeling education and enforcement policies, reemphasizing those policies to their employees, and educating their customers about the movie and video game ratings and music labeling systems and store policies.
“There is a bounty of wonderful entertainment options for people of all ages, and the music labeling and motion picture and video game rating systems can help parents choose the right entertainment for their children,” CERTA declared. “While the decision as to what is appropriate for a particular child ultimately rests with the parent, retailers can and do play an important role in empowering parents with the tools necessary to make those decisions: the entertainment ratings and labeling systems.”
Retailers can learn more about CERTA and the entertainment industry’s ratings and labeling systems at www.ERLAM.org. For more on the Parental Advisory Program, click here.
Comments
Re: June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month
Ironically, this June may also be the month the SCOTUS puts the force of law behind these ratings.
Re: June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month
Well, technically California wants to impose its own ratings because, as Leland Yee has said eleventy billion times, the ESRB is like the "Fox guarding the henhosue".
Or are you referring to the Court putting the force of law behind the ESRB by declaring California's law unconstitutional? I can't really tell.
Re: June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month
ESRB would be dismantled in Cali if it passes and government ratings will take over. I think if the bill dies then ESRB would remain as it always was and not have government backed laws.
Re: June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month
Meaning that the very same problems the motion picture industry faced would happen all over again for the gaming industry.
A lot of movies were stifled because they couldn't market them nationally because individual states and even towns had their own rating boards and in far too many cases outright prevented a movie from being released in their area, making marketing it nationally next to impossible.
I'm guessing that's the entire point of this bill, to induce a chilling effect, which to me is the exact same as a ban. Especially since developers there would likely pack up and leave the state, removing jobs.
Re: June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month
All of the above are why this law simply will not stand up. California is essentially relying on Supreme Court justices being sloppy.
Re: June is Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month
Actually, California never appealed the section of the law mandating that the "deviant" video games be labeled 18, something that Sotomayor tore into California's lawyer about.