Shopko Is Lone Local Retailer Selling Adult Content to Minors
Omaha (July 25, 2008) – The Omaha Chapter of the Parents Television Council™ (PTC) released the results of its Secret Shopper Campaign, which revealed that locally Shopko violated its own internal policies and sold an adult game to a minor. Nationally, PTC chapters found that video game retailers sold Mature-rated video games to minors 36% of the time. In Omaha, however, only one of seven stores visited ignored the age restrictions and failed to card a 16-year-old for adult entertainment.
“The national failure of these companies to take seriously their role in protecting our youth is disturbing. I am, however, proud that most of the retailers in our area appear to be living up to their own policies. Adult games with sexual scenes and acts and extreme violence that the player doesn’t just watch, but participates in should never be near a child. Similar to age restrictions on alcohol, tobacco, pornography and other products that are potentially harmful to children, parents deserve a reasonable expectation that age restrictions for adult entertainment products will be enforced at the retail level,” said Omaha Chapter Director John Thompson.
“Best Buy, Game Stop, Furniture Mart, Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, and Target deserve praise here in Omaha. Unfortunately, in the rest of the country, only Best Buy and Game Stop, consistently follow their internal age restriction policies. The alarming failure rates at the national level show a clear need for the legislation sponsored by our own Representative Lee Terry. I applaud Congressman Terry for his leadership in helping to protect our children by introducing this legislation designed to provide civil penalties for selling M-rated games to minors,” Thompson said.
The Omaha Chapter of the PTC conducted these 10 Secret Shopper visits as part of over 100 Secret Shopper visits by chapters nationwide. PTC chapters sent children between 11 to 16 years of age to attempt to purchase M-rated video games, which are classified by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) as inappropriate for anyone under the age of 17.
The retailers visited have company policies that require that video games not be sold to people outside of the ESRB assigned age classification. The children were told to enter the chosen store, find an M-rated game, and attempt to purchase it with cash. They were instructed to never lie or misrepresent themselves during the process. When games were purchased, the adult who had waited outside the store would return with the game and ask for a refund.
Further details on the results of the national campaign are available upon request or at www.parentstv.org. More details on which stores were visited both locally and nationally are available at www.parentstv.org/gr/omaha.
The PTC’s national headquarters in Los Angeles has established a direct line of communication with senior executives at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., regarding the findings of the national Secret Shopper Campaign. Wal-Mart has expressed urgent concern and has promised a swift and thorough review of the age verification shortcomings in stores across the country. The PTC applauds Wal-Mart for taking this immediate action.
