A lot of South Africans endorse the work of the Film and Publication Board regarding classifications and ratings of media content. This is according to a survey conducted by the board among 7 000 respondents from all South African provinces.
The aim of the survey was to establish the media content that children or underage people are exposed to.
#FpbSurvey findings: Awareness of content ratings show a worrying trend with only the minority of respondents indicating that they rely on ratings on DVD covers when allowing children to watch films pic.twitter.com/r9vBOmOupw
— FPB (@FPB_ZA) February 12, 2021
FPB also wanted to establish the presence and authority of the Film and Publication Board amongst the South African public.
FPB Acting Research Manager Oupa Makhalemele says the survey was also to establish the awareness and assessment of films ratings.
“What is clear is that the idea of regulating content is something that the public generally likes us to continue doing our work. They believe that there is need to regulate content, but there is a big worry that comes to the levels of lack of awareness or ignorance to the potential harm in some of the online activities that especially young children play. Parents tend to buy games for their children which also have age rating symbols attached them.”
— FPB (@FPB_ZA) February 12, 2021
The board found that most of the parents that took part in the survey, lean more heavily towards censoring video games and films with strong language than those with strong violence.
Parents surveyed were also more concerned with nudity and sex in content.
FPB Shared Services Executive, Laurie Less, says more engagement and a whole of society approach to awareness creation on the dangers of unmitigated content consumption is needed.
