Last month we teased you about legal issues that apply to interactive, web-based digital video games. How could we have known those sexually explicit scenes hidden in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would have been exposed just in time for our July Legal Bytes issue. Wow. Although the Advertising Review Council has an Entertainment Software Rating Board (“ESRB”)—a self-regulatory group that in May 2001 promulgated widely followed and accepted Principles and Guidelines for Responsible Advertising—the inability of the industry to effectively police itself, whether in connection with sexually explicit images, profanity, violence or otherwise, is coming under increasing fire as these incidents are uncovered. You all know what that means, right? Legislation, regulation and full employment for advertising attorneys who know their way around interactive, web-based digital gaming…and we have lots of those folks. You thought we were only concerned with product placement. Questions?
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