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February 21, 2007
Contact: CCFC: Josh Golin at
(857-241-2028;
josh<at>commercialfreechildhood.org)
PTC: Kelly
Oliver (703.683.5004 ext. 140) or Megan Franko (703.683.5004
ext. 148)
Publicly owned buses
and trains promote violence to young riders
DENVER (February 21, 2007) –
The Parents Television Council™ and the Campaign for a
Commercial-Free Childhood, on behalf of a coalition of parents,
child advocacy groups, pediatricians and mental health
researchers, have called on the Regional Transportation District
(RTD) to stop advertising video games rated “Mature” or “Adults
Only.” Last fall, ads for the notoriously violent M-rated
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Games, 2006)
were featured on RTD trains. The organizations asked the RTD to
amend their advertising policy at the RTD monthly board meeting
on February 20, 2007.
Despite their M and AO
ratings and the fact that they feature graphic
violence—including violence against women - and explicit sexual
content, the Grand Theft Auto series is frequently
marketed in venues frequented by children. The Grand Theft
Auto series has proven to be extremely popular with young
people. In 2002, the top selling video game for teens and
preteens was Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, in which
players could kill a prostitute after having sex with her.
“Our public transportation
network serves more than half the residents of Colorado and is
doing them a disservice with its tacit approval for the
dangerous content in the Mature-rated video games that are
advertised throughout the system. I’m here today to remind
Chairman Chris Martinez and the board that they have a
responsibility to act in the best interest of those who voted
you into these important positions. You can take a step towards
being a better steward of the public good today by no longer
accepting advertising from violent video games that can have
long-term harmful effects on the youth in our community,” said
PTC Denver Chapter Director George Robison to attendees at the
meeting.
Robison and CCFC member Peter
Simonson presented board members with a letter urging the RTD to
change its advertising policy to preclude accepting ads for
games rated as unsuitable for children under 17. In November,
CCFC led a successful campaign to get the Massachusetts Bay
Transportation Authority to make this change.
“It is unconscionable that
RTD would accept advertisements for a game like Grand Theft
Auto: Vice City Stories,” said Simonson. “In Vice City
Stories, players are rewarded for killing innocent bystanders,
law enforcement officers and rival gang members, as they attempt
to set up illicit businesses, such as drug dealing and
prostitution rings, and commit armed robbery. As a father and a
Denver-area resident, I want to know that my children can ride
public trains and buses without being subjected to ads that
promote violence and lawlessness.”
The letter was written and
organized by the PTC and CCFC and endorsed by researchers,
clergy, and child advocacy groups. Individual signatories
included Executive Director, Denver Police Foundation and Former
Lt. Gov Jane Norton;
Former Colorado
U.S. Attorney Mike Norton; Craig A.
Anderson, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Iowa State
University; William R. Beardslee, MD, Gardner/Monks Professor of
Child Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Joanne Cantor, PhD,
Director, Center for Communication Research, University of
Wisconsin-Madison; Alvin F. Poussaint, MD, Professor of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; and
Rabbi
Michael Lerner, Chair, Network of Spiritual Progressives.
Organizational
endorsers included: the National Institute on Media and the
Family; Stand for Children; Dads and Daughters; and the Office
of Communication of the United Church of Christ.
“Advocates for children from
across the political spectrum are united in their belief that
children should not be targets for advertising that glorifies
violence,” said CCFC co-founder, Dr. Susan Linn. “This letter
reflects that diversity. We hope that Denver will join the
growing number of communities declaring that public property
cannot be used to promote violence to children.”
According to PTC President
Tim Winter, “Countless research studies demonstrate the
unequivocal effect of media violence on a child’s brain and
cognitive development. It is the height of irresponsibility for
the RTD to be accepting money to promote violent video games to
the many children who use their services.”
The complete text of the
letter can be found at
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/pressreleases/denverletter.pdf.
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