But the time has come to show some restraint, even if it has a short-term impact on the bottom line. Having already introduced new gun controls, Clinton trained on the entertainment industry's business practices the same microscope he focused on cigarette companies, and their juvenile-aimed Joe Camel ads, when he cracked down on teen smoking. FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky said his staff will, as in probes of the tobacco and alcohol industries, look into the entertainment companies' internal marketing records even if it takes subpoenas. I would hope we could talk to these companies and get voluntary compliance. On the dais with Pitofsky, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton held up several colorful video-game ads that he considered offensive.
Advertisements have a particular role here.
They have the power to egg children on and lure them in. The president's Rose Garden announcement came three weeks after he and Mrs. Clinton convened a meeting of movie-industry lobbyist Jack Valenti and five dozen of the nation's leading educators, officials, entertainers and gun makers to brainstorm a national campaign against youth violence. On Monday, Valenti's spokesman, Rich Taylor, said the Motion Picture Association of America had no comment on the impending FTC study. A separate entertainment industry source, however, suggested Clinton was alienating Hollywood just as it was trying to help his cause. All Rights Reserved.