| Retailers
Make Progress on Keeping Violent Video Games Out of Hands of Youths,
But Still Need to Improve
Christian Brothers
Investment Services Joins ICCR in Major Initiative; Target and Best
Buy Lauded For Strongest Response in U.S. Retailer Group.
NEW
YORK CITY -- Leading U.S. retailers --
particularly Target and Best Buy -- are doing a better job of
controlling sales of violent video games to children. But all retailers
still need to improve disclosure of their related sales policies
and the
results of those policies, according to a new report from members
of the
Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a coalition
of 275
faith-based institutional investors with combined assets over $110
billion.
ICCR members
are in dialogues with some of the largest video game
retailers in the country, asking them to adopt and enforce video
game
sales policies to ensure that Mature (“M”)-rated video
games for
audiences ages 17 and older, containing graphic violence, strong
sexual
content and racist themes, are not sold to minors. Behavioral science
research shows that playing violent video games increases the likelihood
of aggressive behavior in children and youth.
According
to the new ICCR report: “It is evident that retailers are
doing well on several fronts: all retailers included in the report
have
video game policies to restrict access by young teens to M-rated
games;
all display signage about the ESRB rating system; all conduct employee
training programs and ongoing education on the video game rating
system
for employees; and all have established a system to identify the
age of
the purchaser at the register. ICCR is pleased with both Target’s
and
Best Buy’s policies to restrict ads for Mature-rated games
in teen
publications and on television. Target also places a prominent “M”
on
games advertised in its store circulars and Best Buy has a robust
internal auditing process and compliance program, which are noted
improvements.”
In addition
to Target and Best Buy, the retailer chart in the ICCR
report covers Circuit City, KMart, Sears, Toys “R” Us,
GameStop and
Wal-Mart.
To view
the ICCR report, Retailers and Violent Video Games: Progress Made
but Disclosure Needed, and chart comparing the current practices
of several major video game retailers, as reported by the retailers
during discussions with ICCR members, go to: http://www.iccr.org/issues/violence/retailercomparisonchart120606.pdf.
Julie Tanner,
corporate advocacy coordinator at Christian Brothers
Investment Services, said: “While we appreciate the productive
dialogues that we’ve had with retailers and applaud the steps
these
companies have taken, retailers need to make even more progress
in
certain areas. The most important omission by retailers is the lack
of
information on the implementation of and results of their policies.
This
information allows socially responsible investors like CBIS to evaluate
the reputational risks facing individual retailers, and enables
us to
track company progress over time.”
Cathy Rowan,
corporate responsibility consultant for Trinity Health
said: “Reporting is a key component of our analysis because
current
annual reports do not always note all of the risks to company
operations. Comprehensive reporting can build credibility with
shareholders when companies detail how they are addressing risks
associated with the sale of violent video games to minors, supply
results from such things as their internal ‘mystery shopper’
programs,
acknowledge controversies, and discuss their challenges.”
The
ICCR Report advises retailers to improve their reporting in the
<
following ways:
* Adherence
to policy. ICCR understands that retailer members of the
ESRB Retail Council will participate in a ‘mystery shopping’
verification program, coordinated by the ESRB, which will publicly
disclose the mystery shop results on an aggregated and anonymous
basis.
This is an important action. However, shareholders that own stock
in
each of these companies deserve to see individual results, excluding
confidential information. ICCR believes that companies have the
capacity to develop such a report without providing proprietary
information.
* Long and
short term goals for compliance. ICCR recommends that
companies set aggressive goals and objectives and track results
to
ensure progress is being made, with the end goal of 100 percent
store
compliance.
* Benchmarks
or indicators. ICCR suggests that companies create
indicators to demonstrate implementation of their policies on violent
video games and evaluate the effectiveness of these programs.
* A balanced
assessment. The public needs to understand the challenges
relating to policy implementation, and what are the areas for
improvement. There is no need to only present a rosy picture of
policy
implementation. ICCR recognizes the challenges in this area and
believes
that providing a balanced picture builds credibility.
Source:
HastingsGroup.com.
|
