“The national failure of these companies to take seriously their role in protecting our youth is appalling. I am ashamed of the retailers in our area that across the board failed our community. 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 in our community. This is sadly not the case,” said Virginia Beach Chapter Director Alnita Holder.
“We need meaningful consequences for retailers who ignore their duty to our community. They have internal age restriction policies at every one of these stores, but without fear of penalty these retailers are not taking this issue seriously,” Holder said.
In July 2008, the PTC Virginia Beach Chapter conducted three 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. The Wal-Mart, Target and Circuit City Stores in Newport News that were visited are on Jefferson Avenue. Nationally, Wal-Mart failed in 38% of the visits, Target 41% of the time, and Circuit City failed 60% of the time.
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 Virginia Beach and at other stores across the country. The PTC applauds Wal-Mart for taking this immediate action.
