Call of Duty Shirts for 6 Year Olds...

[DaytonaUSA]

Check this out. Couldn't believe this when I went into Target tonight....

Thoughts?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-lNBu5vvug

Edited September 14, 2014 by DaytonaUSA

[Mord]

I always find it funny, in a sad kind of way, when I see merchandise for M rated games for kids.

 

Publishers should really be careful with this kind of thing. Even if we know they're marketing the games towards audiences they're not suppose to be selling it to, when they get too obvious about it they run the risk of landing themselves in court. It's already happened at least once over a game commercial on TV a few years back. Can't remember which game it was in particular, but it angered the wrong parents.

[DaytonaUSA]

Yeah, I'm surprised that Target was ok with this. Activision... sure. They'd sell their soul for a buck. But Target is in the spotlight, especially since their credit card hacks. It won't take long before the public notices this and it's in the news and they get backlash from it.

 

At the end of the day, is the thousands of dollars of kids tshirt sales worth the bad press? If I was at Target or Activision, I wouldn't have allowed this to be sold.

[Rex Dart]

Saw these at Toys R Us the other day, on an endcap right next to the Lego sets. My wife pointed them out right away & said "Uhh those games are rated M."

[+bennybingo]

Regardless of the "legal" restrictions such as "M for Mature", ages 6 to 20 IS their target demographic. If you don't believe it, just try and hop online for a game of deathmatch nowadays. You will quickly see who the core fan base consists of.

[Mord]

Who their intended demographic is and who they're targeting specifically can be different. (But I agree that they most likely ARE targetting kids for those games - as I've said, they've been caught doing so explicitly already.) If they actively go advertising/targetting to the 6-16 age group however, it's still grounds for another lawsuit.

 

Regardless, the only ones to blame for it in the end are the parents who are suppose to be keeping an eye on what their kids play, or at least the ratings.

 

At times I think the "M" rating is a joke anyway. It means 17+. The next rating is AO. 18+. (Not a lot of growing gets done in that year that really matters as far as video game consumption is concerned.)

[DaytonaUSA]

Who their intended demographic is and who they're targeting specifically can be different. (But I agree that they most likely ARE targetting kids for those games - as I've said, they've been caught doing so explicitly already.) If they actively go advertising/targetting to the 6-16 age group however, it's still grounds for another lawsuit.

 

Regardless, the only ones to blame for it in the end are the parents who are suppose to be keeping an eye on what their kids play, or at least the ratings.

 

At times I think the "M" rating is a joke anyway. It means 17+. The next rating is AO. 18+. (Not a lot of growing gets done in that year that really matters as far as video game consumption is concerned.)

 

 

I agree. That would be like cigarettes being illegal for 14 year olds, but there's a large target market for 14 year olds so cigarette companies advertise to them. That would be illegal.

 

Same with this. The game isn't MEANT or RATED to be sold to 6 year olds, so why on earth would that be ok, irregardless of whether or not 6 year olds play the game?

[Jinks]

The parents have no control. The government is the only one that can sterilize....I mean save them..

[Algus]

They had Terminator and Alien toys when I was a kid. Finding ways to market R and M rated entertainment to kids is nothing new. Kids want to be playing/watching/listening to that kind of stuff anyway. I knew by the time I was 7-8 years old that was the stuff I wanted to see.

 

Doesn't make it easy on the parents but my friends and I seemed to turn out alright. Depends on the kid as to what they can be exposed to but nothing beats good old fashioned parenting when having to deal with this kind of stuff.

[iswitt]

This was happening when I was a kid. Nothing surprising about it. It just makes me want to be a better parent than most of Earth's parents are.

[Gabriel]

Well, it's related to war, war is the most wholesome and American activity anyone can partake in.

[Reaperman]

In a world where making finger-guns is banned at school, I wonder if these are still okay. I guess there's no gun on the shirt.

[Video]

um...those ratings are a joke anyways. The only reason they even exist is to cover the companies asses, not cause anybody really cares if a kid plays the game.

 

Hell, when I was a kid, I got all the adult games and horror movies I wanted. I saw Aliens and Childs play in theaters for crying out loud. In fact, my parents would be more likely to buy them for me, because unlike most of the kiddy shows and games and other stuff, they could also enjoy them.

 

Kind of reminds me of them finally getting around to banning selling tobacco and alcohol to minors (kids) It was NOT because kids were smoking or drinking, that was just an excuse cause there wasn't really a way to prove they weren't (I know countless times my parents sent me to the store to get cigarettes or beer for them, and no I never had the urge to drink or smoke so...)

 

 

It's called being a parent and raising your kids, which is increasingly a lost art.

 

And I'm no worse off for it *twitch twitch*

Edited September 21, 2014 by Video

[xg4bx]

As much as we decry violence in America we actually can't get enough of it. We love war, death, and destruction, and indoctrinate our children as early as possible. Thank god there isn't a tit on the shirt, that would be inappropriate.

[AtariLeaf]

Thank god there isn't a tit on the shirt, that would be inappropriate.

 

I fail to see the controversy

 

[BydoEmpire]

Yeah, kind of creepy. I thought it was odd to see Halo Lego toys as well, but to me Halo is pure sci-fi fantasy, so for me it's appropriate for somewhat younger audiences. Not much different than GI Joe. CoD seems like a stretch for a 6 year old...