As a free speech supporter, I'm opposed to censoring the media industry, but that industry's new PauseParentPlay advertising campaign, in which the industry addresses but takes no responsibility for the impact of violent and sexual content on our society, makes it hard to keep fighting the good fight.
The new ad campaign unveiled a couple days ago is designed to educate parents about the tools (e.g., the V-chip in modern TVs) they have at their disposal to regulate what their kids watch, hear and play. As AdAge [registration required] points out, however:
[The PauseParentPlay advertising campaign's] between-the-lines message is that government regulations are not needed to protect children from overly violent and indecent entertainment content because parents currently have the power to do that.
I agree that as parents we have a responsibility to monitor what our kids consume as entertainment, but it would have been good to see the industry make a commitment to take a look at its own role in the impact of overly violent/sexual content on society. Industry initiatives such as PauseParentPlay, with their "we don't need to do anything since it is all the parents' responsibility" mentality, aren't really productive since that type of one-sided approach is by its very nature only a partial solution. Ultimately, the industry needs to realize that if it doesn't take a stronger role in policing itself, it will probably find the government stepping in to do it for them.
As such, I think this ad campaign is misguided and largely a waste of money since it won't achieve its desired goal - which is not really to educate parents, but to avoid governmental regulation.
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