World Cup marred by the advertising on ESPN

My nephew, 9 years old, was watching one of the early games of the World Cup when he came into the kitchen and asked his mother, “Can we go see The Purge?” "Is that a kids movie?" she asked. No he said. It's rated R. Then he said, “What does … [Read more...]

M-rated video games cross-promoted with children’s building toys

If Halo is rated M for mature game players only, then why the cross-promotion with Megabloks, intended for ages "8 and up"? Please watch this promotional video (or see screenshots below). Please note that the video includes the Xbox logo. How … [Read more...]

Should movies with smoking be rated R?

This is the second of a two-part series on smoking, media and youth. Part I here. So, the good news is, teen smoking is down. A government report  in November 2012 found that cigarette smoking among teenagers had declined significantly between … [Read more...]

Movie Review: Winter’s Bone

I highly recommend Winter's Bone–with its excellent messages about female strength and courage, as well as the damaging effects of illicit drugs–for older teens. What’s with movie ratings? Apparently any mention of illicit drugs earns an R, but you … [Read more...]

Thinking about ratings creep: Lost in America to Red

The film Consuming Kids talks about ratings creep—that is, the tendency of the film rating board to allow more and more images and situations to appear in more stringently rated movies, mainly because we just get used to them. So sexual situations, … [Read more...]