Game Retailers Again Get Highest FTC Marks for Ratings Enforcement

Videogame retailers again fared best among entertainment retailers and movie theaters in the enforcement of ratings as part of the latest secret shopper survey by the FTC, it reported Wednesday. Game retailers “continue to enforce most vigorously the ratings governing age and content that were established by the entertainment media industry,” it said.

Thirteen percent of underage teenage shoppers were able to buy M-rated videogames overall during the survey, “a statistically significant improvement from the 20 percent purchase rate in 2009,” the FTC said. But not all game retailers fared the same. Wal-Mart fared worst of the six game retailers cited by the FTC, with 20 percent of the shoppers under 17 years old able to buy M-rated games from 66 stores. Target fared best, with only 8 percent of underage shoppers at 36 stores able to by M-rated games. That compared to 9 percent of underage shoppers at 79 GameStop stores, 10 percent at 21 Kmart stores, 10 percent at 31 Toys “R” Us stores, and 16 percent at 45 Best Buy stores, the FTC said.

"While the survey indicates we demonstrated high compliance, we always strive for better,” GameStop spokesman Chris Olivera said. “To that end, educating the rating system to our associates and the consumer is a significant priority,” he said. Best Buy and Kmart declined to comment and the other game retailers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

But Entertainment Merchants Association President Bo Andersen said in a written statement that his group was “pleased with the leading performance of its members in enforcement of the video game ratings and the significant improvement in enforcement of the DVD ratings.” The FTC’s “numbers demonstrate once again that industry self-regulation can and does work, and there is no need for punitive government regulation, such as the California video game law that EMA and the Entertainment Software Association are currently challenging in the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said. Entertainment Software Association President Michael Gallagher echoed Andersen’s take on the FTC’s findings. “Those who would criticize” the game industry’s “commitments are either ignorant of facts or are actively pursuing a political agenda,” Gallagher said.

Retailers of R-rated and unrated DVDs “demonstrated meaningful improvement in ratings enforcement” from 2009, “but there is room for more,” the FTC said. Thirty-eight percent of underage shoppers were able to buy R-rated DVDs, down from 54 percent in 2009, while 47 percent of them could buy unrated DVDs, down from 58 percent, it said. Wal-Mart fared best with R-rated DVDs, with only 27 percent of underage buyers at 92 stores able to buy such titles. It was tied for first with Best Buy for unrated movies, with 30 percent of underage shoppers at 79 Wal-Mart stores able to buy them and 30 percent at 46 Best Buy stores able to, the FTC said. Results varied widely between R-rated and unrated movies at Trans World Entertainment stores. While 44 percent of underage shoppers at 18 of its stores were able to buy R-rated DVDs, 83 percent were able to buy unrated DVDs at those stores.

Music CD retailers “lag far behind” game retailers, as well as movie DVD retailers and movie theaters, the FTC said. Retailers of explicit-content music “demonstrated slight improvement since 2009 in enforcing the Parental Advisory Label -- but still generally failed to prevent sales to minors,” the FTC said. Sixty-four percent of underage shoppers were able to buy CDs with the label, down from 72 percent in 2009, it said. Borders, Hastings Entertainment and Target all fared worse than the overall industry, the FTC said. Sixty-seven percent of underage shoppers at 21 Borders stores were able to buy such CDs, versus 73 percent at 15 Hastings stores, and 77 percent at 44 Target stores. Other major retailers fared better, with 61 percent of underage shoppers at 18 Barnes & Noble stores able to buy the CDs, versus 59 percent at 73 Best Buy stores, 29 percent at 17 Kmart stores, and 60 percent at 35 Trans World stores.

The shopper survey “demonstrates some progress,” said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. But he said, “More needs to be done.” There was “no statistically significant change in ratings enforcement at the movie box office,” the FTC said. About 33 percent of underage shoppers were able to buy a ticket to an R-rated movie at theaters, up from 28 percent in 2009, it said. The FTC recruited 13- to 16-year-olds, unaccompanied by a parent, to attempt to buy the movie tickets, games, CDs and DVDs for the survey, it said.