Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America – the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, through its Institute for Public Affairs, responded to a Federal Trade Commission report released today which documents how entertainment companies market violent R-rated films, music albums and video games to children under the age of 17. The Orthodox Union announced that it would step up its support for legislative initiatives requiring movies, TV programs, music albums and video games to be labeled for content and more tools to be given to parents to control what messages their kids are exposed to. The Union also called upon industry executives to exercise greater self-control in developing and marketing their products.

The FTC report, ordered a year ago by President Clinton in response to a request by Senators McCain, Lieberman, and Brownback, details how movie studios market-tested advertisements for R-rated films on children under 17 (including 10 and 12 year olds); it details how advertisements for such films were placed in teen magazines and comic books; and it also found that underage children were allowed into R-rated movies at theatres nearly half the time. The report also found three-quarters of violent-rated video games were knowingly marketed to 13-16 year olds.

Nathan Diament, director for the Union’s public policy Institute, issued the following statement in connection with today’s release of the FTC report:

The Orthodox Jewish community is deeply troubled by the findings of the Federal Trade Commission with regard to the entertainment industry’s intentional efforts to sell violence, sex and crudity to America’s teenagers. Parents have sensed for some time now that they were fighting against heavy odds to “raise PG kids in an R-rated culture;” now we’ve got the evidence to prove it. The FTC report shows how Hollywood, contrary to public denials, uses its most sophisticated research and marketing techniques to expose our kids to violent and sexually explicit entertainment. It’s time for them to stop; it’s time for them to clean up their act and stop working at odds with America’s parents.

We are grateful to President Clinton and Senators McCain, Lieberman and Brownback for requesting this report and to the FTC for conducting it.