We are in the process of publicizing the findings of the FTC to our member companies along with the newest guidelines for the Parental Advisory program. We also discussed the recommendations of the FTC and concur with the conclusion that marketing plans for entertainment products should be consistent with the content. We concur that the findings indicate that we need to redouble our efforts to increase parental awareness not just of the music industry advisory, but of all the entertainment industry ratings programs. Let me tell you why we disagree. The FTC report has a lot of good information in it, but sometimes facts just don't tell the whole story.
Some kids can play violent video games but have nightmares after a scary movie.
Some kids' neighborhoods are scarier than any song will every be. And Bobby Knight still isn't old enough to go see Gladiator or play Doom or listen to Eminem. So what is appropriate for one child isn't always appropriate for another child, even if they're are the same age, or go to the same school, or are even in the same family. Several years ago, NARM and RIAA sponsored focus groups on the Parental Advisory program. We learned about the wide variety of responses that parents had to situations in which their kids had purchased records that carried the PA sticker.