ESRB Launches Rhode Island Ratings Awareness Campaign

Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch and ESRB president Patricia Vance have announced a new campaign focused on heightening awareness of the board's content rating system and encouraging parents to check ratings to ensure games are appropriate for their children. Rhode Island PTA president Stephen Furtado attended the press conference to demonstrate his support for the initiative, which kicks off this month in his home state with television and radio public service announcements featuring Lynch and his children, 12-year-old Kelsey and 11-year-old Graham. "It’s up to us, as parents, to take every measure possible to increase protections for our children," Lynch said. "Using the excellent ESRB rating system is an extremely important and positive step.” In April of this year, a Federal Trade Commission report showed that nine in ten parents are aware of the ESRB ratings, 87 percent expressed satisfaction, and nearly three-quarters use them regularly when choosing games for their children. “While many parents are aware of the ratings and are making sensible game purchases as a result, there is always more that can and should be done,” Lynch said. “Working with ESRB, we hope that these ads will help arm parents with the information they need to make the right choices when purchasing video games.”