Rhode Island Attorney General Partners with ESRB in Ad Campaign

Another state attorney general has expressed support for the video game industry's rating system.

Rhode Island's Patrick Lynch (D, left) announced yesterday that he would participate in a public service announcement (PSA) campaign designed to raise parental awareness of video game content issues. The campaign, which begins this month, will feature radio and TV spots. Lynch, who will appear along with his daughter, 12, and son, 11, said:

Before children and teenagers grab the controls to play a video game, we’re asking parents to control the types of games their kids play by checking the game’s rating. Most parents routinely check the ratings of movies before taking or allowing their children to see films, and I’m honored to join with ESRB to ask parents to use that same level of vigilance concerning video games. It’s up to us, as parents, to take every measure possible to increase protections for our children. Using the excellent ESRB rating system is an extremely important and positive step.

ESRB president Patricia Vance, who joined Lynch for the announcement, said:

We are very proud to have the support of Attorney General Lynch in reaching out to Rhode Island’s parents to raise awareness of the ratings and urge parents to use them when buying or renting games.

In 2006 the ESRB worked out similar arrangement with the attorneys general of Utah (Mark Shurtleff) and Georgia (Thurbert Baker). Pennsylvania A.G. Tom Corbett has also expressed support for the ESRB as well as for built-in parental controls in game consoles.