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[First Gen]

In a recent article posted on arstechnica.com, Matthew Lasar reported that the Federal Communications Commission has submitted an inquiry to the public asking for feedback on how well parental blocking devices for television are working, sighting the Transformers films advertisements as a possible violation of said devices.

In a nutshell, the FCC is looking to enforce the rule that MPAA films rated PG-13 or above are not marketed towards children under 13 years of age, thanks to a response given by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood gave based on the inquiry "[to] the extent to which inappropriate commercials [are] aired in programming viewed by children and on possible solutions to this problem". In the report submitted by the FCC, both Transformers and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen were cited as examples on how such parental blocking devices such as the "V-Chip" weren't regulating such content and allowing children to view said commercials.

Congress has asked the FCC to supply them with a compendium of every content filtering device available. The FCC has until the end of this week, August 29th 2009, to supply the report.

You can read the article in its entirety here.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know by clicking Discuss this topic above.

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[ACIDSTORM]

Oh yeah? I know all about the FCC .

[Bouncy X]

so its ok for a 13yr old but then if you're 12, suddenly its wrong? because god knows there's such a jump in maturity or whatever between those ages.

always found these "age restrictions" funny, regardless if its for movies or music or television or drinking or anything really.

its bad enough they added ratings to television but now they wanna control what trailers play on there? wow....and my god, do parents that actually follow these ratings even exist? are there parents who will refuse to let their child see something because the tv said its bad? i sure as hell hope not.


how about just letting parents you know....be a parent and they can decide what is or is not appropriate.

[Samsonator]

When I was a kid, there were these two kids down the road who weren't even allowed to watch The Simpsons, the favourite show of all their friends at the time, because TV told their parents that it was too bad for them... Mind you they were also restricted to G-rated movies and their parents kept a close watch on what music they listened to...
Parents like this do exist, they want to shield their children from whatever harshness they perceive in the world. However it should also be noted that these same parents usually don't monitor their kids internet access, and figure that just because THEY don't know how to get around content filters and blockers, their kids won't either.
I'm very glad I never had this problem.

[Counterpunch]

My eyes can't roll back any further in my head...for a variety of reasons...

[Hard Hacker]

This is silly. The very audience for Transformers istelf is underneath that age.

[Forgotten]

My girlfriend & I have a 3 year old son who we clash quite a bit about what he watches and whatnot. She had a very strict christian upbringing & lived a very sheltered life and she wants to do the same thing to our son. I raised myself starting when I was 11, I've been hooked on drugs, been to rehab for alcohol, been an enforcer for the local MC(Motorcycle Club) and I pretty much grew up in bars(with my parents) so I have somewhat more lenient views. But I must say though I love Transformers and so does my son, I even felt dirty when I took him to the theatre to see ROTF. we had been watching trailers and following it for over a year and he was very excited. Me & my girl agreed to take him to it because the first one wasn't that bad and our son knows the difference between reality(people with guns and strangers with candy) and fantasy(giant robots that turn into inanimate objects and whatnot). Since it was rated PG-13 the same as the first one we decided he could come to see it. Imagine my disdain for the ratings system and Bay when within the first 5 minutes they had already said "ass" and frequently got more foul as the movie went on. I can't really understand how it managed to have the same rating as it's predecessor, just seems like the MPA dropped the ball on that one quite a bit. I think that the whole ratings system needs a dramatic overhaul so that it is a bit more clear for parents to used it to deem things appropriate for their children. But ultimately I believe that it's the parent's duty to filter what their children view. Sorry for the long rant but I figured this would be information that helped explain just how strange I think these ratings are.
PS: i'm not a bad parent just because I had a "colorful" life, I do not want my son to have the same experiences I did, but i'm not going to completely shut him off from the world or take anything away from him that might help him grow into the man he'll become.

[Universal Prime]

My girlfriend & I have a 3 year old son who we clash quite a bit about what he watches and whatnot. She had a very strict christian upbringing & lived a very sheltered life and she wants to do the same thing to our son. I raised myself starting when I was 11, I've been hooked on drugs, been to rehab for alcohol, been an enforcer for the local MC(Motorcycle Club) and I pretty much grew up in bars(with my parents) so I have somewhat more lenient views. But I must say though I love Transformers and so does my son, I even felt dirty when I took him to the theatre to see ROTF. we had been watching trailers and following it for over a year and he was very excited. Me & my girl agreed to take him to it because the first one wasn't that bad and our son knows the difference between reality(people with guns and strangers with candy) and fantasy(giant robots that turn into inanimate objects and whatnot). Since it was rated PG-13 the same as the first one we decided he could come to see it. Imagine my disdain for the ratings system and Bay when within the first 5 minutes they had already said "ass" and frequently got more foul as the movie went on. I can't really understand how it managed to have the same rating as it's predecessor, just seems like the MPA dropped the ball on that one quite a bit. I think that the whole ratings system needs a dramatic overhaul so that it is a bit more clear for parents to used it to deem things appropriate for their children. But ultimately I believe that it's the parent's duty to filter what their children view. Sorry for the long rant but I figured this would be information that helped explain just how strange I think these ratings are.
PS: i'm not a bad parent just because I had a "colorful" life, I do not want my son to have the same experiences I did, but i'm not going to completely shut him off from the world or take anything away from him that might help him grow into the man he'll become.

can I say that I agree? RotF deserves this. so long as the toys don't get pulled before I finish getting the autobot cars.

[ROTF Review]

Parents cant decide on commercials! I mean come on its a commercial!
I think its wrong i mean they can block rated r commercials but PG-13
Hasbro has tons of toys for kids under 13! Just sayin it aint right!

[allspark99]

isn't the parent's decision to say what there child should or should not watch?