The Federal Trade Commission today released the results of its latest nationwide undercover shop of movie theaters and movie, music, and video game retailers. The FTC conducted a survey with 13-to-16-year-old undercover shoppers to collect data about the extent to which retailers prevent unaccompanied children from buying tickets to R-rated movies, R-rated DVDs, Unrated DVDs of movies that were R-rated in theaters, M-rated video games, and music CDs labeled with a Parental Advisory Label – “PAL” – for explicit content.
The survey found that 20% of underage teenage shoppers were able to buy M-rated video games, a major improvement from all prior surveys, and down from 42% in 2006. While CD and DVD retailers demonstrated some improvement since the 2006 survey, roughly half of the undercover shoppers still were able to purchase R-rated and Unrated movie DVDs and PAL music CDs. The fact that so many children were able to purchase Unrated movie DVDs – some of which contain content that, if rated, might result in an NC-17 rating – indicates that retailers need to re-double their efforts in this area. Although movie theaters have improved since the 2000 shop, they still sold R-rated movie tickets to unaccompanied children 35% of the time, demonstrating no statistically significant improvement in ratings enforcement since 2003.
CORRECTED: May 16, 2008
The survey found that results of the undercover shopping varied by retailer and product. Three movie chains – National Entertainment, Regal Entertainment Group, and American Multi-Cinema – turned away 80% or more of the underage teens who tried to buy a ticket to an R-rated movie. Wal-Mart did the best of the major retailers shopped for movie DVDs, denying sales of R-rated and Unrated DVDs to 75% of the child shoppers.
With regard to M-rated video games, Game Stop rejected an impressive 94% of underage shoppers, while Wal-Mart and Best Buy spurned 80% of them. Some stores had very different results for different media. For example, while Best Buy rejected 80% of underage buyers of video games, it turned away underage shoppers for PAL music only 47% of the time, R-rated movie DVDs only 38% of the time, and Unrated movie DVDs only 17% of the time. Similarly, Target refused to sell M-rated games to underage buyers 71% of the time, but refused sales of PAL music only 40% of the time, R-rated movie DVDs only 35% of the time, and Unrated movie DVDs in only 23% of the cases.
Tables A through E break down the survey results by theater chain and retailer. The number of shops for each reflected that chain’s or retailer’s share of the market.
Table A: Movie Theater Tickets (R-Rated)
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Chain
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# of Shops
|
% Able to Purchase
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National Amusements
|
15
|
13%
|
Regal Entertainment Group
|
51
|
18%
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American Multi-Cinema
|
35
|
20%
|
Cinemark USA
|
27
|
33%
|
Other
|
59
|
42%
|
Hollywood Theaters
|
15
|
47%
|
Marcus Theaters
|
15
|
47%
|
Carmike Cinemas
|
18
|
56%
|
Kerasotes Theaters
|
15
|
80%
|
Table B: Movie DVDs (R-Rated)
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Chain
|
# of Shops
|
% Able to Purchase
|
Wal-Mart
|
72
|
25%
|
Circuit City
|
16
|
31%
|
Borders
|
15
|
33%
|
Grocery stores
|
15
|
47%
|
Kmart
|
17
|
47%
|
Blockbuster
|
15
|
53%
|
Best Buy
|
34
|
62%
|
Barnes & Noble
|
14
|
64%
|
Target
|
31
|
65%
|
Transworld Ent.
|
18
|
78%
|
Table C: Movie DVDs (Unrated)
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Chain
|
# of Shops
|
% Able to Purchase
|
Kmart
|
15
|
20%
|
Wal-Mart
|
74
|
24%
|
Circuit City
|
14
|
29%
|
Grocery stores
|
14
|
36%
|
Borders
|
14
|
50%
|
Blockbuster
|
16
|
56%
|
Target
|
29
|
76%
|
Transworld Ent.
|
18
|
78%
|
Best Buy
|
32
|
81%
|
Barnes & Noble
|
15
|
87%
|
Table D: Video Games (M-Rated)
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Chain
|
# of Shops
|
% Able to Purchase
|
Game Stop/EB Games
|
66
|
6%
|
Wal-Mart
|
62
|
18%
|
Best Buy
|
35
|
20%
|
Toys R Us
|
15
|
27%
|
Target
|
28
|
29%
|
Kmart
|
16
|
31%
|
Circuit City
|
16
|
38%
|
Hollywood Video
|
15
|
40%
|
Table E: Music CDs (PAL)
|
||
Chain
|
# of Shops
|
% Able to Purchase
|
Kmart
|
12
|
17%
|
Other
|
44
|
41%
|
Circuit City
|
14
|
50%
|
Best Buy
|
53
|
53%
|
Virgin Megastore
|
15
|
53%
|
Target
|
30
|
60%
|
Borders
|
15
|
67%
|
Barnes & Noble
|
15
|
73%
|
Transworld Ent.
|
47
|
77%
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The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.
(08 secret shopper survey – corrected)
Contact Information
- MEDIA CONTACT:
- Claudia Bourne Farrell,
Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2181 - STAFF CONTACT:
- Keith Fentonmiller,
Bureau of Consumer Protection
202-326-2775