Senator Joseph Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate, plans to introduce legislation next week that would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to regulate the marketing practices of the motion picture industry, the online entertainment magazine Inside reported today (Thursday).

The bill presumably is intended to address the issues raised by an FTC report last September that found that movie studios frequently developed marketing plans for R-rated films aimed at underaged children. Although the Motion Picture Association of America has drafted guidelines that include the setting up of a compliance committee to monitor the studios' marketing practices, Lieberman is reportedly unimpressed. Dan Gerstein, a Lieberman staffer told Inside, "That's like having the fox guard the henhouse."

Source: Studio Briefing