Archive Index: January 2006
Archive: January 2006
About the Common Sense Review System
I often write of the challenges I face raising my 12-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter: Can he watch "Family Guy" if all his friends do? How do I talk to her about the latest 50 Cent record? Believe me, I know how hard it is to manage our kids' media lives, especially when the thresholds of acceptability constantly change.
My parental day to day challenges inform the tone and scope of our reviews here at Common Sense. I know all too well the level of responsibility a parent has today in keeping on top of the media content of video games, dvds, and downloadable songs. We designed our rating and review systems to help make that job a little easier for all of us.
Homophobic 'Humor' Persists in Kids' Media
Editor's Note: Nell Minow, the "Movie Mom", published an article in the Chicago Tribune today about homophobia in popular children's movies. Read the piece at the Tribune's site here
Junk Food Lawsuit is a Step to Fight Childhood Obesity
Today, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood joined with the Center for Science and the Public Interest and parents from Massachusetts to announce our intent to file suit against Viacom and Kellogg to stop them from marketing junk food to young children. The lawsuit isn't about money. It's about protecting children's health. It will ask a Massachusetts court to prohibit the companies from marketing foods of poor nutritional value to audiences where 15 percent or more of the audience is under age eight, and to cease marketing junk foods through web sites, toy giveaways, contests, and other techniques aimed at that age group.
There is no moral, ethical, or social justification for marketing junk food to children. Childhood obesity is a major public health problem. Overweight children are at risk for a number of serious medical problems including type 2 diabetes; yet children continue to be inundated with ads for foods high in fat, sugar, salt, and calories.
Is 'R' Enough? 'Hostel' Has Some Parents Perturbed
Over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve received several inquiries about “Hostel”, the Quentin Tarantino-backed movie about two American backpackers who fall into the clutches of a disturbing torture ring (you can see the Common Sense Review here). While this movie is most definitely NOT for kids, the extremely graphic and violent content of the film has the parents of some older teens wondering why it didn’t garner an NC-17 rating. One of those parents, Lisa Westerburg of Michigan, sent us the note below:
Lindsay Lohan Eating Disorder Admission Should Be a Reality Check For Teens
By now you've probably heard that Lindsay Lohan admitted she has the eating disorder Bulimia, which is when you eat a lot and then make yourself throw up because you don't want to gain weight. Girls often feel pressure from images on TV and in the movies to be skinny. Sometimes they make you feel that if only you were as skinny as them you would be incredibly happy, popular, have an amazing boyfriend and maybe even be rich! Hah! This just isn't true -- lots of things in the movies and on TV aren't true. And Lindsay Lohan's admission proves it. Her life seems happy -- even perfect -- but actually she's suffering from an illness that could kill her. All because she wanted to be thinner than she needed to be.
