Not much left to the Imagine'ation - Magazine publisher serves up porno to minors
"What's really inside your child's console gaming magazines."
Published: 8th August 2009 | Source: Overclock3D |
Don't let your child be a victim
The gaming industry is massive pulling in billions of pounds each year. So much so that the budgets of some games can be compared to a major Hollywood movie. The fight to stay on top isn't easy as there are new players in the industry popping up all the time fighting and nibbling away at each other's profit margins. Trying to get your attention to a certain game takes a lot of effort with press releases and poster campaigns and even television campaigns that rack up the cost even more.Our children are the ones who shape the future of gaming by paying with their pocket money. There however is one media publisher that is showing the strains of the modern age and are reverting to some very under handed means of making more money without any thought for who their real reader's are. Imagine Publishing.
My concerns were risen when my son went out and bought himself a gaming magazine to read the reviews of the latest Xbox 360 games. When he got home he quickly opened the magazine up and went straight for the demo disk and left his magazine on the table. I love to play games myself so being quite inquisitive I picked up his magazine called X360 and started to flick through the pages with the hope of finding something that might catch my eye. To my surprise the only thing that did was the last 4 pages of the magazine that contained major full page spreads of mobile sex games, videos and pictures. Convinced that my son had accidentally managed to purchase a mag from one of the 'upper-shelves' I turned to the front cover to see if there was a 18 rated sticker anywhere on the front of the magazine. Nothing. Absolutely no indication that the magazine contained content unfit for young eyes.
This warping of children's mind's at such a early age is not something I wish to happen, so I have set myself the task of finding out why this is happening and what we as parents can do about it.
First me and my 8 year old daughter headed off to several outlets including WH Smith, ASDA, Morrison and Tesco's to see if she could get any Console or PC gaming magazine's that contained offencive material. We only targeted magazines that did not contain a 15 or 18 rating. Let's see how we got on...
WH Smith
My 8 year old daughter walked in on her own and when straight for the gaming section. On the lower shelf she picked out several magazines including Play (a Sony PlayStation 3 Magazine) and 360 (a Microsoft Xbox 360 magazine) both of which are published by Imagine Publishing. Neither of these titles had an 18 or 15 certificate on them. She also picked up several Future Publishing magazines and Dennis Publishing magazines.
She then proceeded to the check out were a young girl of about 19 years old had a quick look at the magazines and then scanned them in. My daughter then handed over the money and then walked out after saying thank you, and handed the magazines to me.
After a quick look through all the magazine I found that only Imagine Publishing had any sort of pornography contained within them.
I then went with my daughter back into WH Smith and approached the check-out staff that served my daughter and asked to speak to her manager. After about 5 minutes the manger approached me and I asked her why she and her company was allowing a 8 year old to buy magazines that contained pornographic material. The manger looked quite shocked and said if there is any in the magazines it would have been picked up by their till system and alerted the cashier of a registered age limit.
The manager then scanned in the magazines again and no saw no age restrictions were in place and there was no physical markings on the magazines to tell any buyer what age the magazine is suitable for. I then asked again why my 8 year old daughter was able to buy these magazines without question and her only answer was that she would bring this up with her head office.
Me and my daughter then went around to several smaller magazine shops to see if she could do the same. We found that at every shop we had gone to that she could easily walk in and buy literally any gaming magazine she liked. On one occasion even some with 18 certifications from a local news agent. I was amazed my 8 year old daughter can by pornography in this form.
Tesco's
Now this is a major retailer that should know better than to sell anything that is offencive to children! Time to give them a test..
Once again my daughter went in alone and looked for magazines easily within her reach. PowerStation and SciFiNow (both by Imagine Publishing) were the selections with the former even advertising the new Harry Potter game on the front cover. Again she headed to the check-out and handed over her cash as the magazines were scanned through the till before being bagged. Not even a raised eyebrow.
She then handed the magazines over to me to have a quick flick though. Yet again the console magazine PowerStation had pornography spread across its back pages. However, to my surprise the more adult orientated magazine - SciFiNow had none. Could this be an indication that this publisher is purposely aiming their advertisements at impressionable minds? To confirm my theory I walked into Tesco's myself and hunted down more publications by the same group (such as Photography and PC magazines) and found no pornographic advertisement's at all. This is almost undeniable proof that they are aiming their pornographic material directly at the younger generations. A very disturbing thought.
I then approached the main counter for customer services and politely asked if it was possible to speak to the manger of the store. After a few moments the manger appeared and enquired about my problem.
I showed him the magazine PowerStation and pointed out the pornographic content of the magazine and told him that my child of 8 years had just bought this with no questions asked.
Looking pretty amazed that this had even happened he then scanned in the magazine and found that it had not raised any warnings at all. After a small chat about it asked him what he was going to do about it and he said he would have to contact their head office. I suggest that they remove the magazines immediately as they are selling pornographic material to under 18's at which he said he will re-brand all of the publication's right away to a 18 only brand. This was excellent news to my ears and proves a single person can do this themselves.
So over all its been a interesting day finding out that such a major publisher (Imagine Publishing) has no morals when it comes to making money, even if it means serving up pornographic content to children that may read their magazines.
There is one big way to stop this though and that is do not you children buy them. Let you money do the talking and boycott the magazines that run this kind of content. If other publicists can add a rating sticker onto their magazines then why not Imagine Publishing?
Additionally, it should be the moral responsibility's of shops to check the items they sell. These sort of perversions should never be allowed to be seen by children and if they are selling it then they are as much to blame as the publicists. If you unhappy with any shop that lets children purchase such magazines, complain to the store manager or ask for the contact details of their head quarters.
I will be following this article up with more information on what the shops have to say and if possible what the publicists have to say on this matter. In the meantime, be sure to let me know your thoughts in the Overclock3D Forums.
Most Recent Comments
All men like a tug once in a while xD.
Me playing GTA doesn't make me want to steal a car and blow people up.
Me playing GTA doesn't make me want to steal a car and blow people up.
You do know there isn't actually an evidence to support the theory that games cause people to commit crimes? If someone kills someone by ramming a candle into a person eye on a game, then does it in real life claiming the game gave him the idea, its not the games fault. They WAY he killed someone is, but the game wasn't there saying "go kill someone like this". It sickens me when people label games as dangerous. In my opinion it should all be up to the parent.
Well I thought meh, don't be stupid Mayhem, until I got to the bottom of your post. Did your son really do this? If so I can understand your worry, but there is no proof it's from games. You've taken something away from him and if he said he was gonna stab you, doesn't mean it was games. Take a look at the news, constant killings, stabbings and all they show is war and violence, but these have no age rating afaik.
He most likely would of done the same if he was out with his friends and had been playing cowboys and indians and you said get in and do your chores, he would go in a mood and say stuff.
It could have been some degree of addiction for all you know youngie, there has been several cases of parents taking games off of there kids because there playing it to much or at every waking moment and possably there lifes were slipping down hill (so it was for there own benefit), and then that night they were beaten to death with a hammer/shot with their own guns ect while they slept.
I can recall around 4 or 5 incedents off of the my head that have been recently but i can only find 2 from a quick google.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/boy-kills-dad-with-sledgehammer-after-banned-from-playing-computer-games/story-e6frfro0-1225853471820
AND
[url]http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-daniel-petric-sentenced,0,644171.story[/url]
The 2nd one he was so addicted he just went and sat back at his computer and started playing again.
In my personal opinion i prety much fully agree with siravarice's last post, that it isnt the games fault, but it MAY influence them because they might think its 'cool' or what ever, in my mind its more to the addiction side that causes people to do things like this.
Hunta mate
You have hit the nail on the head. My son has been disgnoused with some sort of addictive disorder . blah blah balh. I dont realy what to go into it but he is easly influenced hence i dont blame the games as strong as my post seems but my self more.
We could all waffle on rubbish about what we think and what we think we know but until it happens to you to be honest 99% of your posts become invalid (this is not pointed at any one).
I think now a days kids are addicted to things more easily and are more easily pursuded. How ever the laws in respect to the cert's on the games are good and do work When shop keepers abide by them.
How ever .... like in here any kid under the age of 18 can jump on this forum and do so many posts and buy a game rated 18 of any of you guys and none of you will be none the wiser. I think the content rules allso should be alot sticker and the age range of games should be better. But its a losing battle ..
and of course this is my personnel option and not any one else.
It could have been some degree of addiction for all you know youngie, there has been several cases of parents taking games off of there kids because there playing it to much or at every waking moment and possably there lifes were slipping down hill (so it was for there own benefit), and then that night they were beaten to death with a hammer/shot with their own guns ect while they slept.
You have hit the nail on the head. My son has been disgnoused with some sort of addictive disorder . blah blah balh. I dont realy what to go into it but he is easly influenced hence i dont blame the games as strong as my post seems but my self more.
We could all waffle on rubbish about what we think and what we think we know but until it happens to you to be honest 99% of your posts become invalid (this is not pointed at any one).
I think now a days kids are addicted to things more easily and are more easily pursuded. How ever the laws in respect to the cert's on the games are good and do work When shop keepers abide by them.
How ever .... like in here any kid under the age of 18 can jump on this forum and do so many posts and buy a game rated 18 of any of you guys and none of you will be none the wiser. I think the content rules allso should be alot sticker and the age range of games should be better. But its a losing battle ..
and of course this is my personnel option and not any one else.
I think you're quite right about some stuff Mayhem, I know a 5 year who plays Halo, which in my opinion is just plain out of order. He's quite frankly too young. My friends think I'm gonna be a cruel parent as I've said my kids aren't playing any violence oriented games unless I personally deem them acceptable. Though this is how I was raised and my mates parents love me and always say how polite I am lol. Hell, even my ex's mum still loves me and keeps saying I should go round lol.
At the end of the day it all comes down to two things:
1. Parenting.
2. Mental disorder or genetic predisposition to act badly.
1. Parenting.
2. Mental disorder or genetic predisposition to act badly.
@Bunebeard, my cousin who's about 7 1/2 plays halo 3 and cod4/5/nazi zombies/6 offline split screen with his dad/brother/me when he's been good, online for younger kids is something i dont think parents should alow at all untill they think there mature enough (around 14 or so?) but they should still be supervised while online for several months, as long your smart with it theres very little to worry about imo with younger kids and games, obviously you wouldnt let them play games like doom 3 or manhunt untill they were older
Ive been playing all kinds of games since i won a playstaion 1 something like 13 years ago (i was 5 or 6) from a random magizine, i started with the usual adventure/puzzle games and things like king of fighters, fifa and stuff then moved up to doom 1 and similar a year and a bit later, but i was allways supervised untill my parents thought i would be fine without there full attention while they were doing other things, i wasnt alowed a console/pc in my room till i was 11 or 12 (but my parents knew i knew they were just games and nothing was in anyway real) as for online play i first went online not long after the 360 was released when i was 14 iirc, im 18 now btw
TL;DR IMO younger children are fine with games aslong as they know its ONLY A GAME and nothing can/will hurt them or will come after them, like my cousin not liking zombies in ANYTHING OR ANY WAY, even pictures on a pc wallpaper would send him running untill we sat him down and explained it all that there not real and there only made up in games and storys, now all he wants to do when its his half an hour treat is play nazi zombies on cod5.
Ive been playing all kinds of games since i won a playstaion 1 something like 13 years ago (i was 5 or 6) from a random magizine, i started with the usual adventure/puzzle games and things like king of fighters, fifa and stuff then moved up to doom 1 and similar a year and a bit later, but i was allways supervised untill my parents thought i would be fine without there full attention while they were doing other things, i wasnt alowed a console/pc in my room till i was 11 or 12 (but my parents knew i knew they were just games and nothing was in anyway real) as for online play i first went online not long after the 360 was released when i was 14 iirc, im 18 now btw
TL;DR IMO younger children are fine with games aslong as they know its ONLY A GAME and nothing can/will hurt them or will come after them, like my cousin not liking zombies in ANYTHING OR ANY WAY, even pictures on a pc wallpaper would send him running untill we sat him down and explained it all that there not real and there only made up in games and storys, now all he wants to do when its his half an hour treat is play nazi zombies on cod5.
@Bunebeard
Lol that's a strange coincidence, my mates call me that after someone mispelt my name online.
I completely understand what you're saying, as long as they know what's going on on-screen it's fine, which is why I wouldn't mind someone al little older to play FPS, but I don't think he really understands and he's been playing it since before he was 4 as well, which is a bit young I think. At 4 I don't think I'd played anything more than the Lion King on PC lol (I'm 21 now btw).
sorry bout spelling your name wrong but i was in a hurry typing it out as i was about to get ready as i have family coming over (30 mins ago) but there late lol, didnt have to rush after all >_>
CSS Valid
lol it was an easy way to get money, rather than actually working for it lol. Only boring thing was we had to sit there and watch the same porno 3 or 4 times lol. We didn't know German and ended up dubbing it lmao, good times man, good times... but still, I'm no perv lol