all people care about is money im not suprised things like this would happen wen thransformers 2 came out i was mad that burger king would get away with marketing a pg 13 movie and not caring about kids there are a lot of better movies out there for little kids yet they decide market a pg 13 movie! this makes me mad and its terrible that millions of kids have probaly seen this! my little siblings did and it was innapropriate for them!

You had better believe it! I think it's horrible that they market movies to little kids that are rated PG-13 or even R! Take all of the superhero movies, like Ironman, the hulk, spiderman, or transformers. All of these are PG-13! During Halloween, I saw so many kids wearing Ironman costumes. I saw parts of this movie. (The parts I didn't see were parts my parents deemed too graphic for me, a 14-year old!) Then, later, when I saw the "Incredible Hulk" (a very violent movie) a little girl who looked to be about seven and a boy who looked nine were in front of us, and loving every minute of it! In conclusion, I think that the people who deal with marketing are making it too easy for a kid to like these movies!

Advertises know the power of those little plastic toys. I did find with my own children that their interest in these gimmicky devices declined when they had to use their allowance to pay for them.

I am with Teresa...cut the cable people! http://www.empoweredbyplay.org/2009/06/two-good-reasons-to-cut-cable.htm...
And remember with the ratings, it has shifted one whole category in the last 10 years. So what used to get R is now getting PG-13! And it has nothing to do with what is developmentally appropriate, it is based on what parents will let kids watch. And now the marketing tie-ins are for younger and younger kids. Enough.
Go unplugged this summer! Get outside...read books...make sock puppets...get messy...and boycott the branded tie-ins.
CCFC is great by the way. Check them out as suggested by earlier post.

i am soory if i am misunderstanding you but are you saying these are not good movies for kids transformers rock and the 2nd one looks better and transformers was a cartoon so you are telling me spiderman is for adults spiderman is my favorite movie ( well tied at lesat) i admit termatior looks cool but not for kids and parents need to know stuff like that land of the lost looks like a good movie i am going to see it saturday but i looked at the csm review and it looked like there were to many curse words i wonder what my friends well think of it on saturday the bottom line is some kids can see and some can not

What I do with PG and PG 13 movies is stick to "no" no matter how many times she asks -- we have seen some PG movies and one PG13 by mistake aliens v monsters -- which we saw after she got a happy meal with one of the characters from the movie - the advertising does work very well -- As Ms Brodie said in the play The Prime of Ms Brodie -- give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life... that is what the ad agencies are trying for as well.

At the very young age kids should not be allowed to watch movie that includes violence, they might adapt the wrong values. Parents should always accompany their little kids, for they are still innocent to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. Anyway, if you are concern with your children's health you can go to natural foods. I can rest assured you that it is safe and good for their health. Natural food stores aren't vitamin and supplement shops, what you want to look for is stores that stock organically grown foods. Organic foods are also sold in bulk, so the processed foods you're used to in bulk foods aren't the only option, and contrary to belief, you don't need a loan to buy healthier options. Stores such as Whole Foods stock their shelves with things like beans, pasta, rice, and also bulk produce that is sans chemical additives, and in bulk and on the cheap. You will have to cook more, but shopping at natural food stores is like a payday cash loan to your own health.

For more info visit:
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/06/04/saving-money-natural-...

Being a early teen, I really don't think this concept is a big deal than as it would be to an adult. But one thing i do know is anything thats "Cool" To kids (Like a burger king toy) Would make them want to see more of it, in this case wanting to see the movie. I don't think it's a HUGE deal, but I think they should watch it a little more closely.

I was just reading a story about this in a magazine, and I really agree with this article. There's a lot of nice G rated movies out there for them to advertise, but no, places like burger king have to make toys for PG-13 movies. I remember when Transformers came out, my brother wanted to see it badly, just because he saw an add for Transformer toys at burger king. I actually saw the movie, and it was definatley not approprite for his age. It just shows that movie-makers just care about making as much money as possible.

Well it all depends on the content of the movie they're backing. These movies only had minor violence in them, like giant fighting robots. Kids at the age of 9 (according to what your sight says 2-7 can't distinguish between reality and fiction) should be able to know that it's not real. Same with Star Treck and GI Joe. If they back a PG-13 movie like Chicago that barely keeps in the PG-13 level, then that's just wrong, but I don't see Burger King, Pizza Hut, or any of the others backing a movie like that.

Billy

I don't see why parents are so up in arms about pg-13 movies, there not violent (at least not in the bloody gory way) and they may have one or two lines of inappropriate words. But I seem to remember a time when you could say words like "s--t" and "d--k" in a PG movie because kids were smarter back then. Not like know when kids are so stupid that they cant tell the difference between movies and real life, and why is that, because you parents don't know how to parent. You would rather blame movie makers and video games for exposing your kids to things you thinks are inappropriate then explaining to your kids why bad things are bad and good things are good. If you don't want your kids to see the movie then don't take your kids to it. I don't remember people complaining about the Spider-man movies or the most recent Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movie and yet you parents took your kids to it, you bought them the toys, and you let them watch to dvd's over and over and over again. Just remember all comics aren't for kids, not all video games are for kids, not even all cartoons are for kids, and certainly not all kids are for adults.

you r so right. i have same opinion as you.

burger king is now sar trex

I don't like the way that Burger King and McDonalds target kids with their tie-ins for PG-13 movies. I do however think that the rating system of both the MPAA and ESERB are completely unreliable and inconsistent. The toys in meals for the Halo games were a bit extreme, but the Halo games are not particularly violent, despite the T/M rating. I wouldn't say 17+, but more like 14+ or 12+. In this way I think it is important for parents to only take the ratins of an item as a very general guideline, not as an absolute ruleset.

Fact of the matter is the respective marketing teams of each pack-in or promotion (be it film, videogame, comic book, etc.) know just what they are doing. This much is apparent. They know that the kids who grew up with a lot of these franchises and IPs just want the collectible, and don't necessarily care about the food or brand it is packaged with. Sometimes the only way to get the toy/item into the market is through a partnership with a food vendor or distributor, but most times its just about branding. And with that said, I highly doubt that each respective product's sole target-market is aimed at kids under 10 years old. You are just assuming that they are by lumping them all together.

To go back before the referenced Batman Returns, Tim Burton's Batman (1989) was rated PG-13 and there was a slew of toys centered around it, including Batman cereal which was packaged with a plastic Batman coin bank. I was 7 at the time both the film and cereal were released and I watched the film in the theaters with my parents and enjoyed the delicious corn-puff cereal; I don't think that I turned into a monster because of a PG-13 film with a food/toy tie in.

So no, I don't think that it is an issue. There are comic books, toys and kids adaptations that go along with a lot of big budget, so-called "violent" PG-13 films. Why not let your kids enjoy those instead? They don't have to go see oh, say...Star Trek (since that is the film depicted in this article).

Also, look back at G.I. Joe, Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron, Ultraman, MASK, He-Man, She-Ra and even Star Wars. They are all fairly violent films/shows in regards to fighting, laser guns, etc. But you know what it did; it gave kids a sense of heroism a clear cut definition of good vs bad. This was a time when kids weren't so sheltered and pampered.

At this rate you might as well get a bubble for your kids to live in.

Absolutely PG-13 films should not be tied in to kid's meals. I will be limiting my family's fast food dining experiences to Wendy's and Arby's where we have yet to receive surprises tied to inappropriate media. Now that I think about it, I don't believe any of their tie-ins have to do with film/television/video games but are book related (Mzgic Tree House at Wendy's) or not even tie-ins (whirligigs at Arby's). Plus, their menus are "better" than the other places--if you can truly say that about fast food.

WOW nadircroatia, the reason children have parents is to teach them right from wrong, not let them figure it out for themselves. I'll shield my children from sex and profanity for as long as I can, 10 years old is certainly not the time to allow for strong language and sexual content in our home!

Nadircroatia would you take a 3, 4, or 5 year old to see some of these movies linked to the toys?

The problem with the marketing is not the 10 yos, it is the young kids. The kids meals are aimed at much younger kids. There are toys for kids under three, but the movie toys are aimed at 3 and up. That is why I do not let my kids watch very much commercial TV, so they do not see the commercials for this junk. They are PBS kids, mostly.

I do let my kids watch the StarTrek TV shows, and I watch it with them and we talk about the issues and technology, but the new movie will have to wait until they are a bit older.

And while we are on the subject, what about that Sponge Bob Square Pants BK commercial for their kids' meal with the girls with the square butts? How inappropriate is that commercial?

In any case as someone else pointed out, the food is terrible for the kids anyway. So we avoid fast food.

Kudos to Wendy's when they gave away the Magic Tree house series as books on CD's. Great stuff that my kids love to listen to and I was happy to let them listen.

This is kind of funny for me. Last night I had a long argument with my (almost 12-year-old) son about HALO action figures. Last year (two years ago? time flies) I was so outraged they were giving out Halo toys in Happy Meals to celebrate the release of this M-rated video game, that I made a stand and I have continued to make a stink.

This weekend, on the other hand, we're all planning to go to Burger King and get our Star Trek swag after we see the movie. Stupid but fun... and the intelligence and positive, scientific discovery aspect of the Star Trek stories are something I want to support and encourage.

And as Liz writes about all those other movies I stop and laugh -- because I haven't made a stink about any of them... but I should have.

I wasn't a parent when they created the "Explicit Lyrics" label for music, but an artist concerned about free speech, and a critic of the former Hays Code. But as a parent I've really appreciated that there's a system to guide by, even though there are exceptions to be made.

As a parent, I really have had to fight hard to preserve my child's innocence, even in my own home. Many things do go over his head, but once in a while something really disturbing jams its way in there and he has a lot of trouble with it that I have to try to help undo. I really appreciate Common Sense Media for helping me try to get out ahead of those moments (every child is different), but so much more needs to be done to support parents in this struggle.

McDonalds and Burger King won't stop marketing to kids unless someone tells them to stop, and who will do that? Can someone post an address for us all to write to? Can CCFC create a petition? Can and should this be something that's legislated?

The bigger discussion is: Can and should ratings be enforced, by movie theaters and retailers? By counter staff at fast-food restaurants? (I liked learning about Chik-Fil-A's trade-in option.) As a parent, I'd love a little more support here. Tabbysp is right that it creates so much more stress for parents.

And there's another bigger discussion, about how movies are pushing the edges of the PG-13 rating system to its very edges, so you never know if it will be a little randy for 10-year-olds (Ace Ventura) or if kids REALLY should be 13 or over to see it (Batman Returns). I really appreciated that they rated Watchmen R, even though it was a comic book movie.

Why would anyone expect the likes of Burger King and McDonald's to care about the health of children's minds? They clearly don't care about the health of children's bodies, and are helping to fuel childhood obesity at epidemic levels. The goal of any fast food chain is to create cravings in children for things that they should not have (over-salted "food" with scant nutritional value that won't fill them up). My advice? Don't ever take your children there. And don't go there yourself, you're old enough to know better. Obviously this is a much easier policy to uphold if you start from the beginning ... once your child has learned to equate McNuggets, fries and other non-foods with fun it'll be a long, difficult process to wean them. But if you really want what's best for your kid, Burger King should scare you more than Star Trek.

My thoughts exactly but so well said. Thanks.

Before motherhood, I was in marketing. I retired in part because I was disgusted by audacious and opportunistic marketing by the companies I worked for and was acquainted with in Los Angeles advertising (read Mattel, Disney, and all the studios). Make no mistake, companies are motivated by the bottom line and when it comes to movies, that means two things...butts in seats and cross-marketing (merchandising). Companies who profit through children know exactly how to capture children's attention and hold it for 30 seconds or more, how to turn on the whine factor, how to arm them with ways to overcome parental objections. They know exactly how many frames per second it takes to induce a child into giving commercials trancelike attention. They know at what decible level to set the audio to drown out other noise and disable higher thinking processes. They know that children today are becoming more desensitized every day to ever greater levels of stimulation and they continually drive the pace to higher and higher levels. Program developers allow hack writers to relive their own childhood traumas and whacked out kid fantasies through the once-innocuous form of the cartoon. They make movies filled with content for adults so adults will pay to see them and promote them as healthy family fare.

In the last ten years, the pace, tone, and intensity of adversiting and marketing to children has become crazy-making both for parents and for children who don't perceive that much of what they see and hear on television and in movies is fantasy of sociopathic order and if they were to behave in reality the way they see people behave on the big and little screen, they would soon find themselves in very hot water. We wonder why children seem so much harder to raise? Well, it's partly because we allow the television, Xbox and movie theatres to do the job for us. And they stink at child-rearing.

This is obviously preaching to the chorus but just to encourage all of us who care about our children's moral and ethical development to keep using your good judgment and don't leave it to someone else. They're not interested in our kid's best interests.

I think movie studios get away with it because we let them. Happy Meals are the best way for them to circumvent the whole rating system. But as parents, we have to be the ones to decide what are kids do. It doesn't make our job any easier as parents, but studios don't care about our kids--It is about the money. Marketing to a larger audience is the bottom line, whether it is an appropriate audience or not. We can't appeal to studios sense of decency, so maybe we need to speak their language--dollars. Quit buying the kid meals with inappropriate toys and let the fast food franchise know why.

See my articles on examiner.com regarding media violence.
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4776-Seattle-Childrens-Literature-Exa...

Avoiding fast-food restaurants is another option. It's better for your kids' health and exposes them less to movie marketing.

I do get frustrated when my girls receive happy meal prizes that I feel are inappropriate. I remember when McDonald's offered the Pirates of the Caribbean (rated PG-13) toys. My 5 year old was horrified at the options of a Pirate Captain Skeleton, Sword Swinging Skeleton Pirate or Chattering Teeth Pirate Skull. I much prefer to go to Chick-Fil-A where the kids' meals include books, software, or educational activity kits that can be traded in for ice cream cones if the child is not interested in the item they receive.

Not all of them though. Avatar was amazing.

The original series, heck even Next gen I have no problems letting my 8 year old watch, but the new movie is a complete reboot. It's a lot grittier, and has a lot more adult stuff than the usual (Swears, sexual content etc etc).

I honestly don't think my daughter buying a toy from the new movie at Bks is gonna make her into a delinquent, but she sure as hell isn't gonna watch the movie till she's at least 12.

I think people are thinking too much about the stupid toys and not enough about just forbidding their kids to see the movie.

I don't see a problem with the toys though, as long as I let my daughter know she's not to see the movie associated with said toy.

But to say that you plan to just let your kids watch whatever they want and let them figure the morals out all on their own. Are you insane? As a grownup it is your job to guide your children. Or did you forget that?

This was a problem for my parents, as well, so it's not like this is some new trend or anything. I'm so grateful for this site and for kidsinmind.com. Your site gives good age suggestions and kidsinmind gives movie scene specifics - I almost took my kid to see 17 Again, but when the whole description was sex, thrusting, condoms, etc, I decided I'd do us both a favor and not take him. He grumped until I told him it had a ton of kissing in it and then he was happy to stay home and ride bikes. (Let's face it, a 10 year old and his mother watching 17 Again would have been mortifying for us both). Iron Man was another one where I was so angry about the product tie-ins. Those terrorist scenes were just a little much for even a "mighty kid." (I saw the movie - the kid stayed with Grandma)

So yeah, fast food companies make parents' jobs harder by marketing inappropriate movies to kids. But at least parents have better tools at hand these days to determine if and where the MPAA rules can be bent. - our kid is a huge Star Wars fan, and we made him wait for his 10th birthday before we let him watch Episode 3. He's seen a couple of the Harry Potters... that's our comfort level in our family. I haven't read the descriptions of this new Star Trek movie yet, and I will, but I wouldn't be surprised if we take him.

To Nadir, yes, I agree that our children will learn about sex and profanity and violence - earlier than we want them to. But children are still children, and we should treat them as such. Exposing kids to all the worst that movies have to offer doesn't make them more sophisticated, it makes them more confused and frightened. We might not always be able to protect our children from the dangers of real life, but to allow them to see any movie they want and then expect that they will somehow learn right from wrong... I hope that works for your family. I won't be trying that tactic with mine.

I agree that the marketing is inappropriate. To combat this kind of marketing to children, check out Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood. Their website is http://www.commercialexploitation.org/. I am not affiliated with them in any way; I just agree with their mission.

Well as the president of Common Sense Media knows (and as she expresses in her bio on this website), there is nothing more important than promoting brands...er after her kids of course. Why parents allow children to feast on chemical-laden happy meals and then ask why there are so many incidents of cancer, autism and other myriad diseases is beyond my comprehension. The question about marketing to children wouldn't even need to be asked if everyone was seeking out their nearest local, organic, grass-fed beef producer and canceling cable to spend a little time with their kids.

Just curious, does Common Sense Media still make money off the films they 'review'??

Star Trek? Seriously? Kids in the 60's watched Star Trek, and that generation seemed to turn out fine.

Why wasn't this explored with The Dark Knight? NOT a kid's movie, and yet it had every single marketing gimmick used to target kids.

Transformers and GI Joe Are BOTH based off toylines. Not cartoons, not comic books, the toys themselves. How can you not expect this type of marketing? It's like asking Lucasfilm to stop making Star Wars video games, it's not gonna happen.

But Star Trek? In all likleyhood, any references to drugs, alchohol, or sex will go right over kids' heads. They won't even understand, or care about, it until they get older. That's what it was like with me.

Even the violence. Yeah, I'm so worried that the kids of america will give each other vulcan neck pinches and shoot each other with phasers. Get real people.

There are exceptions, like The Dark Knight. The only reason that film got that kind of marketing is because the companies didn't know, or care, about the content of the film. They just know from the past the magical equasion: Batman=Money.

But COME ON! STAR TREK?!?!?!? You're worried about STAR TREK? I'm done. Have a nice falcon day.

This is something that we talked about in my sociology class. It is all about money. The food companies want to target kids any way they can. The problem then goes to the parent who has to explain to kids why they can't have stuff they see on tv. I honestly don't think it is right for companies to target children at all. They don't work and earn money, and they don't pay bills, so they can't possbly understand the responsiblity of what to buy and what not to buy, and most are too young to even worry or care where the money comes from.

Wow, you guys overreact way to much. "Omg, its rated PG-13 and My kids are ten. They are going to learn about sex and profanity. Whatever shall we do.
Loosen up a little, and let your children learn by themselves whats good and whats bad.

OMG! My wife and I just spoke about this exact same thing. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to be the first one watching Start Trek, however, my kids are getting bombarded with the movie through all the channels that are targeting kids...and my kids (9 and 7) are dying to go see it.

Of course, we are not going to allow them to watch that movie. It's not for them (at least form what I've seen in the trailer).

I don't know how they get away with that and I would love for them to not do it any more...but...as parents, it's our responsibility to make sure we explain to our kids that they can't see it and stick with that. Remember...we are parents first and friends second...

Money. That's all people care about these days. It's why cartoons in 2004-2008 sucked.