[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 24, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3810-S3811]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page S3810]]
                           TARGETING CHILDREN

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I want to draw the attention of this 
body to a report that was released just today by the Federal Trade 
Commission. It is a followup study to one that was done last year on 
the issue of the marketing of violent, adult-rated entertainment 
material to children. It was a groundbreaking Federal Trade Commission 
study last year that found that much of our adult material, adult-rated 
entertainment material--movies, video games, music--was adult rated by 
the companies themselves, entertainment companies, the conglomerates, 
and then target-marketed back to children, for example, in the Joe 
Camel advertisement. It was said this was an adult-rated product, 
cigarettes, but using an image to target-market that then back to 
children. It turns out the entertainment community--entertainment 
companies and movies and music and video games--was doing the exact 
same thing.
  That report was released last fall, and it was very discouraging and 
disappointing that they would do this, particularly at a time when we 
have so much difficulty with violence in our society, violence among 
kids in our schools, killings among our teenagers.
  There was a followup study released just today to that September FTC 
study. What came forward is that the movie industry is doing somewhat 
better about not target-marketing the adult-rated material to children, 
the video game industry is doing better than the movie industry in not 
target-marketing their adult-rated fare to children, and the music 
industry that is putting forward these hyperviolent, suicide, violence-
towards-women lyrics has actually done nothing to change its marketing 
practice and continues to directly target-market adult-rated material. 
This is material the music companies themselves deem to be 
inappropriate for children. They put an adult sticker, parental 
advisory, on this material, and they turn around and continue, with 
millions of dollars in marketing campaigns, to target children.
  They are saying: Yes, we got the study last fall. We saw that. Yes, 
we were target-marketing adult-rated, parental-advisory-stickered 
material to children last fall. Do you know what. We are going to keep 
doing it. And they have continued to do that, as shown in this study 
that was just released today.
  I asked that industry to come forward and change its marketing 
practices: If you believe this material is inappropriate, to the point 
it needs a parental advisory label on it, don't spend millions of 
dollars to try to bypass parents and get the kids to buy them.
  What the FTC study found is deeply disappointing. There have been 
some efforts made at progress, mostly, as I noted, in the video game 
industry, and more modest attempts in the movie industry. For those 
efforts I offer both praise and encouragement to step up the progress. 
But the report also found, as I stated, that the recording industry has 
made no effort to implement any reforms--either those mentioned in the 
report or the reforms that they, the recording industry themselves, 
told Congress they would do. This is even more disappointing.
  Before we had the hearing last fall on the marketing of violent 
material to children, the recording industry stepped up and said: We 
are going to change. Here is a three-point, five-point, seven-point 
plan we are putting forward; we will implement these as an industry to 
change our marketing practices.

  They volunteered. Now what they have done is they have said: We are 
not even going to do what we volunteered to Congress we would do--
change our marketing practices.
  I want to read just a few statements from this report because it is 
deeply disturbing:

       The Commission's review indicates that the entertainment 
     industry had made some progress in limiting advertising in 
     certain teen media and providing rating information in 
     advertising. The industry must make a greater effort, 
     however, if it is to meet the suggestions for improvement 
     included in the Commission's Report as well as its own 
     promises for reform.

  Specifically, the report found, ``ads for R-rated movies still 
appeared on the television programs most popular with teens . . .''--
even though they are supposed to be a restricted audience for the 
movie--``and the ratings reasons in ads were either small, fleeting or 
inconspicuously placed.''
  That was the good part of the study. The report reserved its harshest 
criticism for the music industry and stated:

       The Commission found that the music recording industry, 
     unlike the motion picture and electronic game industries, has 
     not visibly responded to the Commission's report, nor has it 
     implemented the reforms its trade association announced just 
     before the Commission issued its report. The Commission's 
     review showed that advertising for explicit-content labeled 
     music recordings routinely appeared on popular teen 
     television programming. All five major recording companies 
     placed advertising for explicit content music on TV programs 
     and magazines with substantial under-17 audiences. 
     Furthermore, ads for explicit-content labeled music usually 
     did not indicate that the recording was stickered with a 
     parental advisory label.

  So not only did they market to kids, they didn't warn the parents in 
the advertising that this was parental labeled material. In the 
advertising, they said they were not even going to point that out to 
the parents.
  If you refer back to the original FTC report released last September, 
you will find 100 percent of the violent music they studied was target-
marketed to kids--100 percent. Evidently the recording industry saw no 
reason to change.
  Soon the Senate will turn its attention to consider the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act, ESEA, and how to provide the best 
education for all of America's children. I think for every Senator of 
both parties, ensuring that America's children get a world-class 
education is a top priority.
  We also know one of the best measures of what a child learns is time 
on task; that is, children learn what they spend their time focusing 
on. That is significant because typically the American child spends 
more time each year watching television and movies, playing video 
games, listening to music, than he or she does in school. It makes no 
sense to assume that what a child sees, hears, and does in school will 
mold, shape, and enlighten his or her young mind but that what he sees, 
hears, and plays in terms of entertainment will have no impact 
whatsoever.
  Many of the most popular songs, games, and movies actively glorify 
violence and glamorize brutality. There are video games which cast 
players as drug kingpins, with the game revolving around selling drugs 
and killing competitors. There are movies which glamorize murder, 
casting teen idols as dashing killers. And there are numerous songs 
which celebrate violence against women--all of which are marketed to 
children.

  If being perceived is doing, we clearly have problems on our hands.
  There is new evidence to suggest that exposing children to violent 
entertainment not only affects their emotional and behavioral 
development--their sensitivity to other's pain, their ability to 
empathize, and their perceptions of the world around them--but also 
their cognitive development. A professor in my alma mater of Kansas 
State has done ground-breaking research on the impact that exposure to 
violent entertainment has on children's brain activity. Dr. John 
Murray's studies have found that in terms of brain activity, kids who 
are exposed to violent entertainment have a similar experience to those 
who are exposed to real-life trauma, and their brain responds in much 
the same fashion.
  This research, while still in its rudimentary stages, has potentially 
profound implications for education. I would therefore like to announce 
my intention to introduce an amendment to ESEA which calls for 
increased research into the impact that exposing children to violent 
entertainment--violent music, and violent video games--has on their 
cognitive development and educational achievement. I hope and trust 
that the Senate will adopt this amendment.
  In conclusion, I urge my colleagues to look at this interim study by 
the FCC and what has happened.
  I also urge the recording industry to step up and actually do what 
they said they would do, which is not to market adult-rated material 
and parental advisory material directly to children. It is harming our 
kids. It is the wrong thing to do. I ask them sincerely to review what 
they are doing in their marketing campaigns and stop this practice. It 
is harmful.
  I am hopeful when we have the followup study and the anniversary 
report

[[Page S3811]]

to the FCC study this fall that the recording industry will actually 
step forward and do what is right.
  I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent 
that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SMITH of New Hampshire. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to 
yield myself up to 15 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Smith of New Hampshire pertaining to the 
introduction of S. 759 are located in today's Record under ``Statements 
on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I would like to address the Chamber. May I 
ask, what is the business before the Senate?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. We are in a period of morning business for 3 
hours, equally divided.
  Mr. DODD. Is there a limitation on the amount of time?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is a 10-minute limitation.

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