Movie in trouble in the USA for targetting young Children

The USA's Federal Trade Commission is looking into the advertising for the Transformers Movie after complaints were received from an "Advocacy Group" (you know, the one's that say kids shouldn't be allowed to play touch footy at lunch as they might hurt themselves).

According to the Advocacy Group, the Transformers Movie was advertising to children as young as two by placing commercials on during shows such as Jimmy Neutron.

What's a 2 year old watching Jimmy Neutron for? Why can't a parent just not take their 2 year old to a movie?

The movie was rated M which meant that parents were meant to use their discretion and organise adult supervision for children under 15. (-_-) But yeah... I must say that it is suspect to be seeing an M-rated movie being advertised during a kids' cartoon time slot... did they ever advertise Star Wars Episode III during the kiddie time slot? cos that was rated M too.

I think Hasbro should've done more to advertise the toys during those time slots (IMO I didn't see the toy ads enough... then again, my definition of enough is like twice per ad break like in Japan! Sometimes back to back! :D) but yeah... if Paramount have been advertising M15 movies during kiddie hour then they might be in some do-do.

And for the record, kids can play touch-footy at school... just so long as they remember that it's touch footy - not tackle. For legal safety and duty of care reasons we cannot allow kids to tackle. But most kids are cool with this rule. :)

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

And for the record, kids can play touch-footy at school... just so long as they remember that it's touch footy - not tackle. For legal safety and duty of care reasons we cannot allow kids to tackle. But most kids are cool with this rule. :)

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For now, it is okay for kids to play touch footy, but even 12 years ago when I was in primary school, there were still "advocacy groups" that pretty much wanted to ban running in general at school, even on grass...

I want to know why the Movie is getting in trouble when it should be up to the Television station to make sure that their advertising is suitable for the target audience of a show.

Yeah, usually when ads are aired on an inappropriate time it's the TV station that gets in trouble. Maybe US laws differ from ours in this regard?

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

The movie was rated M which meant that parents were meant to use their discretion and organise adult supervision for children under 15.

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The M rating (in Australia at least) is just a recommendation. There is nothing stopping a child by themselves going and seeing an M rated film. The MA15+ rating is the one that needs a parent/guardian to go see the film with anyone under the age of 15.

King Kong had this problem too. I remember a "parents group" getting all uppity about that toy advertising for that and the same group got upset at Star Wars Ep III toys, although I think it was more about the actual toys themselves than the advertising. This type of situation is happening more and more often.

jeez, is anyone sick of these people...they want to stop everything...how bout this, we put them on a boat, ship the boat to...some place in the middle of the ocean, and we unplugged the boat. problem solved...if a kid wants to see a movie like transformers...let em, if a kid wants to see an R rated movie...let em, and let em have the nightmares. Point is its the parents/child's choice...not the people from these groups.

what about British Bulldogs then? :P

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Originally Posted by Ironhide63

jeez, is anyone sick of these people...they want to stop everything...how bout this, we put them on a boat, ship the boat to...some place in the middle of the ocean, and we unplugged the boat. problem solved...if a kid wants to see a movie like transformers...let em, if a kid wants to see an R rated movie...let em, and let em have the nightmares. Point is its the parents/child's choice...not the people from these groups.

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This is also coming from the same generation of parents who when their childs sneezes, they go straight to the doctors.
I have said it before, I will say it again, THEY ARE RAISING THEIR KIDS IN A BUBBLE.
I hate those lobby groups, they think to hard about the things that can happen when their kids play fotty, rather than letting them enjoy themselves.

I mean footy :p

There's a lot of toys and kids-focused merchandise at Toys R Us for Terminator Salvation (action figures, voice changer helmet, endoskeleton decals that make you look somewhat like a Terminator or somewhat like Seven of Nine). Remember when Terminator was an R rated movie full of people being violentlly killed by a robot in disguise? Now it's something that, through the toys, is being sold at younger boyswhich means the violence in the movies get toned down for lower ratings so those young boys can see the film and then buy the toys.

There's an adult audience for films like Transformers, and Batman, and Spider-Man etc, but there's also a child audience for them too and I think the balance is really hard for film makers to find.

Movies and toys go hand in hand, Kenner made toyline based on Alien, Aliens, Terminator 2, all quite violent films and not exactly suitable for kids. Hell there was a toyline and tv show based on the R rated (for a good reason) Toxic Avenger films!

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Originally Posted by Gutsman Heavy

Movies and toys go hand in hand, Kenner made toyline based on Alien, Aliens, Terminator 2, all quite violent films and not exactly suitable for kids. Hell there was a toyline and tv show based on the R rated (for a good reason) Toxic Avenger films!

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Did those toys come out while those movies were out, or afterwards for nostalgia purposes? I think I remember Alien 4 toys being out (by which time the franchise was over established)

I remember watching the tamer cartoon version of the Toxic Avenger, never saw the original movie(s).

the t2 fig were relesed to with the film, same with alien, Aliens was after the film.

The toxic avenger cartoon came a bit later than the films. I had a couple of the toys and a few years later was shocked to see the movie they were based on.

"I hope I dont get hurt!"

Was a strange discovery for me...