Susan Arendt
Culture

Jack Thompson Uses <cite>BioShock</cite> TV Spots to Refute ESRB's Effectiveness

Jack Thompson is using BioShock television commercials to attack the efficacy of the ESRB, saying that ads aired during Friday’s episode of WWE’s Smackdown prove that the ratings system doesn’t work. In a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission, Thompson argues that airing the spots for BioShock, an M-rated game, during Smackdown, a program […]

Jackthompson
Jack Thompson is using BioShock television commercials to attack the efficacy of the ESRB, saying that ads aired during Friday's episode of WWE's Smackdown prove that the ratings system doesn't work.

In a letter sent to the Federal Trade Commission, Thompson argues that airing the spots for BioShock, an M-rated game, during Smackdown, a program that "teens under 17 years of age watch...in huge numbers," proves that Take Two is aggressively marketing an "incredibly violent" game to kids:

Remarkably, the video game industry is running ads for games like BioShock on teen-intensive television programs while at the same time its industry-captured "watchdog," the ESRB, is running a self-congratulatory ad campaign to assure parents that the video game ratings system is working and that the industry can be trusted not to target their kids with these Mature-rated games. It is all a lie, as the BioShock ads prove.

What's most remarkable, I think, is that Jack Thompson is watching *Smackdown. All kidding aside, *he is absolutely correct about two points: a lot of young kids watch Smackdown, and BioShock is, indeed, quite violent. Is it inappropriate to air commercials for an M-rated game during a program so heavily viewed by children? Discuss.

Jack Thompson Shocked by BioShock [GamePolitics]