Rick’s Rants and Raves

Common ground on kids’ TV - The Boston Globe

This article brought to mind something that has been brewing with me for the last couple of months. Why are movies that are rated PG-13 being marketed to 3-5 year olds? Evidently, people have blasted George Lucas for making Revenge of the Sith a PG-13 movie. In all honesty, it probably needed to be PG-13 to tell the story that needed to be told to complete the series. The problem I have is with the marketing companies that are selling Revenge of the Sith toys for 3-5 year olds.

Right now on Amazon.com, I found 7 toys that are recommended for ages 3-5 that are specifically Revenge of the Sith oriented. There were 60+ items that were recommended for kids up to age 12. These are toys marketed to kids who the MPAA ratings board felt were too young to see this movie. And that after decades of ratings creep.

This behavior by the marketing departments is horrible. And yes, I know I can tell them how I feel by not buying their products. I absolutely refuse to purchase ROTS products for my 5 and 8 year old who have never seen the movie (and I don’t intend to let them see if for several more years). I just get tired of having to tell them “No, I’m not buying a toy for you that was inspired by a movie that isn’t appropriate for you to watch yet.”