ABSTRACT
The entertainment industry lives or dies based on ratings, box offi ce tallies, and units sold. If people aren’t listening to shock-jocks on radio (no matter how outrageous or controversial they are), if no one is going to a celebrity blog, if no one is going to see a fi lm on the opening weekend, if no one is watching a television program, the prospect of a long and prosperous run is greatly diminished. In addition, labels, or ratings, on movies, television shows, records, or video games can infl uence how many people are going to be buying tickets, watching, or playing. A restrictive label can severely limit potential audience reach, producing weak audience totals and causing advertisers to look elsewhere for sponsorship opportunities. How movies, television shows, records, and video games are rated thus becomes of primary importance.
