We note that our enforcement record is the best of the three industries surveyed by the Federal Trade Commission. The Commission found that theatre circuits included in their investigation have taken responsible measures to increase enforcement of the minimum age requirement for the purchase of tickets to R-rated features since the Columbine shootings. That said, we certainly are not satisfied with the enforcement numbers reflected in the report and will be redoubling our efforts. The FTC s investigation began just a few months after we adopted and announced our new ID-check policy. We are confident that as our members continue to train their employees, and as we develop new ways to tighten up enforcement, our numbers will improve even more.
Education is equally important.
The rating system is a shared responsibility between the entertainment industry and America s parents. We work to make ratings information available while parents must strive to become informed. What s more important than parental satisfaction is the fact that parents use the ratings. Those numbers were considerably higher for movies than for the other industries surveyed for the report. Through increased education, NATO hopes to involve more parents in their children s movie-going decisions.