![]() |
Home Investment Management Investment Bank Foreign Investment Investment Funds Investment Company Investment Services Investment Industry |
news about Violent Video Game Sales Guidelines Recommended For U.S. Retailers By Christian Brothers Investment |
Top Rank of
Latest Update Of
All Rank Articles |
Violent Video Game Sales Guidelines Recommended For U.S. Retailers By Christian Brothers Investment2005/12/13 Inconsistencies Seen in Efforts to Prevent Sales to Minors of M-rated Games; Proposed Guidelines Show Industry a Path to Protecting Children and Serving Parents Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc. (CBIS) and other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), representing more than $110 billion in assets, today outlined recommended guidelines for U.S. retailers to keep "Mature" (M)-rated video games out of the hands of youths. The new guidelines arrive among continuing concerns that retailers have not done enough to prevent sales to minors of video games containing graphic violence, strong sexual content and racist themes. fter working effectively with major retailers that have policies and programs in place, including Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and Circuit City, ICCR shareholders pulled together the "best practices" from these policies into one cohesive set of guidelines, and now call for their strict implementation. Shareholders challenge retailers who have not yet done so, to create strong and effective policies.
Cathy Rowan, co-chair of the ICCR Violence and Militarization of Society Working Group and representative of ICCR member Trinity Health said: "While we've seen improvement among retailers on this issue, much more work needs to be done. We are urging all video game retailers to create and enforce video game sales policies that reflect the best practices in the industry to ensure that M-rated video games for audiences ages 17 and older are not sold to minors." The newly recommended guidelines address in-store and online violent video game sales and call on retailers to:
Dawn Wolfe, Social Research and Advocacy Analyst, Boston Common Asset Management, LLC said: "While parents play a key role in ensuring that their children are purchasing and playing age-appropriate video games, retailers also have a role to play. Over the past year, ICCR shareholders worked with many retail stores to help them keep content that glorifies violence and is labeled "mature" out of the hands of children. These guidelines can provide retailers with benchmarks and goals for developing new policies or strengthening existing policies." While shareholders recognize that the sale of appropriate video games to children requires the cooperation and collaboration of the entire video game industry including the retailers, game developers and producers, the ESRB rating system, government legislators and consumers, they believe that retailers can better protect shareholder value by making a genuine commitment to keep video games with graphic violence, strong sexual content, and racist themes from minors. Research on violent media that is interactive -- such as video and computer games -- suggests that it has a stronger and more lasting effect on violent behavior of youths. In recent years, members of ICCR, including: The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Sisters of St Francis of Philadelphia; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Sinsinawa Dominicans; Boston Common Asset Management, LLC; Trinity Health; Adrian Dominican Sisters; Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel, OR; Benedictine Sisters of Cottonwood, ID; and Christian Brothers Investment Services have addressed retailers in corporate dialogues and shareholder resolutions to develop, strengthen, and implement their policies. On May 19, 2005, CBIS and its co-filers announced that they had withdrawn a violent video games shareholder resolution filed with Best Buy Co., Inc., since the company agreed to publicly outline one of the toughest violent video game policies introduced by a major American retailer to restrict the sale of mature-rated video games to children and teens. About The Groups Christian Brothers Investment Services manages more than $4 billion, combining faith and finance in the responsible stewardship of Catholic financial assets. CBIS' combination of premier institutional asset managers, diversified product offerings, and careful risk-control strategies constitutes a unique investment approach for Catholic institutions and their fiduciaries. CBIS strives to integrate faith-based values into the investment process through a disciplined approach to socially responsible investing that includes principled purchasing (stock screens), active ownership strategies (proxy voting, dialogues, and shareholder resolutions) and community investment. The firm contributes a portion of all profits to support the Church's educational and social ministry. Need more info about investment services, please visit PR Newswire Association. |
![]() |
Home | Investment Management | Investment Bank | Foreign Investment | Investment Funds | Investment Company | Investment Services | Investment Industry Copyright © 2005 Investment Service. All Rights Reserved. |