Video Business reports that Senators Joe Leiberman and Herb Kohl have sent a strongly worded letter to 34 retail chains, which comprise the bulk of the videogame sales and rental business.  The senators singled out Wal-Mart, Target and Sears as companies that did enforce age requirements for videogame purchasers, but strongly questioned the practices of other retailers.  Both Target and Wal-Mart require that young consumers present both IDs and parental permission before buying M-rated video games, while Sears refuses to carry any games with 'M' ratings at all.  

The Senators expressed appreciation for the industry-wide ratings system and the job that the Interactive Digital Software Association has done to promote the ratings, but they had 'serious concern about the retail community's lack of action with respect to the enforcement of interactive entertainment ratings.'  They said, 'A number of national retail chains have enacted policies that restrict the sale of Mature-rated games to children.  However it appears that those policies have often not made it from paper to practice.'  While asking for an industry-wide policy on enforcement of ratings, the senators did not threaten to pass legislation to enforce such a policy, though Leiberman has already introduced the Media Marketing Accountability Act of 2001 (see 'Leiberman Bill Regulates Marketing to Children'), which does seek to regulate the marketing, if not the sale of similar products.

Retailer Stings

The Leiberman/Kohl letter is based on a study done by the National Institute on Media and the Family which undertook phone surveys of some fifty-plus retail stores as well as retailer 'sting' operations using children under the age of fourteen who attempted to buy or rent M-rated items in 41 retail stores.  The National Institute on Media and the Family's study found that underage kids were successful some 78% of the time when they attempted to buy or rent M-rated video games.  The high percentage of kids who were able to circumvent the rating system gives added fuel to those like senators Leiberman and Kohl who want strict enforcement of industry ratings.

Relevance

While video games are generally not an important part of the product mix at independent pop culture stores, the current situation has parallels for stores selling videos and comics.  Stores carrying videos had their own problems earlier this year, as a NY Times article prompted a series of TV station stings of anime retailers around the country (see 'Another TV Station Takes on Anime').  And, of course, the comic industry has its own twisted history of self-imposed ratings and censorship (see 'The Industry Reacts as Marvel Flees the Code'). 

One thing that is clear is that the era in which industry rating codes can be applied and then forgotten may quickly be coming to an end.  A growing number of politicians appear to be bent on protecting children by making sure that age-based ratings are enforced.  So ratings may soon assume additional importance and sales could soon be closely scrutinized (at least during election years). 

The situation is more complex in pop culture stores. In comics, the industry leader has in effect turned its back on the only industry standard for comic ratings and created its own more elaborate ratings system (see 'Marvel Dumps the Comic Code'), and many smaller publishers use idiosyncratic labeling or no age-based cover markings at all.  Unrated anime videos, and videos rated according to individual companies' systems, also present a variety of problems for retailers trying to direct shoppers to age-appropriate content. 

While the various ratings systems may have functioned to insulate the industry and retailers from public pressure in the past, these same rating systems could boomerang and force retailers to enforce them with great exactitude or face legal penalties, a prospect made even more threatening by the lack of standardized product labeling for comics and many anime videos.  Retailers need to keep a wary eye on this burgeoning movement to enforce marketing and selling restrictions to younger consumers.