Federal Trade Commission

In June 1999, in response to the April 20, 1999, school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, in which two teenagers killed thirteen people at Columbine High School, President Bill Clinton commissioned a study on whether the entertainment industry markets violent content to minors. In September 2000 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the government agency charged with promoting free—market competition and monitoring unfair trade practices, released its report on the marketing of violent media to children and teenagers. In the executive summary of the report, excerpted below, the FTC states that the entertainment industry intentionally targets advertising for violent movies, television shows, and video games at children under seventeen. The FTC proposes that regulatory codes be expanded to prohibit the advertising of violent media and recommends that the ratings systems for violent entertainment be better enforced.

ON JUNE...