June Declared "Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month"Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2004 @ 02:56:32 pm E.S.T
In a joint initiative to redouble efforts to educate employees as well as America's parents about entertainment ratings and labeling systems, five trade associations representing companies that provide movies, music, and video games to the public announced today that they are declaring June 2004 to be "Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month." The announcement was made today by the presidents and executive directors of the trade organizations: Digital Media Association (DiMA), Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA), National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), and Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA).
"For movies, music and video games, ratings and labeling systems exist to provide parents with the tools they need to guide their children's entertainment decisions," the executives said. "For those systems to be effective, parents and retail employees must be familiar with the ratings and labeling information available to them. June is the perfect time to remind parents and employees of the importance of the systems, as children across the nation look forward to enjoying movies, music, and video games during their summer vacations."
Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month will involve motion picture theaters, music stores, online music providers, video stores, video game retailers, and other entertainment retailers in a national education campaign on entertainment ratings. The program, which is based on a program used by VSDA the past three years, will take place throughout the month of June.
During Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month, the participating trade organizations will encourage retailers and exhibitors to review their ratings and labeling education programs and policies, re-emphasize those policies to their employees, and educate their customers. The associations will also jointly reach out to opinion leaders and the general public to educate parents about the respective systems and encourage them to utilize those systems.
As part of Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month, participating trade organizations will remind all retailers and exhibitors to:
1. Review their ratings and labeling education programs and policies to ensure that they comply with industry standards;
2. Re-emphasize their ratings and labeling education programs and policies to all employees to ensure that they understand and comply with those policies;
3. Provide written information for customers about the movie and video game ratings systems and the music labeling system, as appropriate;
4. Ensure that posters explaining the motion picture and video game ratings systems and the music labeling system, as appropriate, are current and are displayed prominently in all retail establishments; and
5. Encourage their customers to utilize the ratings and labeling systems.
In conjunction with Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month, the trade organizations will make available ratings and labeling education materials to retailers and exhibitors. In addition, a national public relations campaign will be conducted to raise awareness and utilization of the entertainment ratings and labeling systems.
Entertainment Ratings & Labeling Awareness Month is an initiative of the newly formed Coalition of Entertainment Retail Trade Associations (CERTA). CERTA members are the Digital Media Association (DiMA), Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association (IEMA), National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM), National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), and Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA). Collectively, CERTA members represent more than 2,000 retailers and exhibitors, who operate approximately 40,000 theatres, video and video game stores, music stores, online music sites, and other retail establishments that offer entertainment products. Posted By: Adam Paoli - 113 Reads
Go Back |
News Archive |
Post a Comment
|
