Consumer Advice
Entertainment retailers welcome all kinds of customers, from parents seeking videos for their young children to adult aficionados of shoot-em-up video games – and it’s important that every customer understands exactly what it is they’re buying.
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That's why ERA members are committed to clear and informative
labelling to help consumers find age-appropriate video, games and
music.
Retailers don't set standards or ratings. Instead they work with
the relevant organisations across the sectors of video, games and
music, ensure staff are well-trained in each of the codes and put
systems in place to ensure they are implemented properly.
For more information on the relevant codes, please click on the
sectors below:
Video
Ratings for film and videos in the UK are set by the British
Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Ratings range from 'U' - which stands for Universal and indicates
programmes should be suitable for audiences aged four years and
over - up to R18, which is used for material which may be shown
only in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed
sex shops, and to adults of not less than 18 years.
Every DVD and video sold in the UK must by law be marked with one
of these symbols indicating its suitability for different types of
audience: More information on what the various categories mean is
available here.
Video ratings have the force of law and all retailers have
stringent procedures in place to ensure the rules are upheld.
The other key organisation in video is the Video Standards Council
(VSC). While the BBFC sets the ratings themselves, the VSC focuses
on the practical issues of how the ratings are communicated to the
public through packaging and staff training.
The VSC website includes useful information
for parents.
Game
Games ratings are set by PEGI which stands for Pan-European
Games Information.
PEGI ratings which are shortly to be set in UK law have five age
categories from 3 to 18.
In addition PEGI provides a series of symbols which help explain
why a particular rating has been given, ranging from scariness to
drugs or sexual references or depictions of violence.
More information on what PEGI ratings mean is available
here.
While PEGI focuses on rating games content, as with video it is
the Video Standards Council (VSC) which focuses on the practical
issues of how the ratings are communicated to the public through
packaging and staff training.
The VSC website includes useful information
for parents.
Music
For music the relevant parental advice scheme is operated by the
record companies trade association, the BPI.
This provides for the labels 'Parental Advisory' or 'Explicit' to
be applied to songs or CDs which contains lyrical themes which may
not be suitable for children.
An announcement of an updated version of the scheme is available
here.
Where appropriate, music videos featuring visual material which is
not suitable for children may be rated by the British Board of Film
Classification (BBFC).