Education & Outreach

ESRB continues to expand the award-winning "Ok To Play? - Check The Ratings" consumer education campaign launched in Fall 2003. The campaign generates over one billion consumer impressions annually through print, television, radio and online PSA advertising and an expansive retail partnership program. The campaign is accompanied by an aggressive public relations initiative which includes thousands of news stories on television, radio, in print and online informing parents about the rating system and where the information can be found on game packaging. These efforts help to increase awareness and use of the rating system so that parents can make informed computer and video game purchase decisions.

If you are interested in placing our PSA advertising in your publication or media outlet, please contact us.

Retail Partnerships

Helping consumers make informed purchase decisions at the point of sale is critical, and so ESRB works closely with retailers to help ensure that their stores display signage about the ESRB rating system, train their store associates about the ratings and enforce their store policies regarding the sale or rental of M-rated games. Click here for more information about ESRB's retail partnerships.

ESRB Ratings Search Widget

To make it even easier for consumers to find ESRB rating information before heading out to the stores, we’ve developed the ESRB Ratings Search Widget. The widget is available in English, Spanish and French, and provides information about a game’s rating category, content descriptors, publisher and platform. It can be emailed to a friend, placed on a social networking page or personal homepage, or even downloaded to the desktop of your PC. The ESRB widget makes it more convenient than ever for parents to find information about the games their kids want to play.

Partnership Marketing

ESRB is actively partnering with a variety of organizations to provide ratings education materials to parents and other consumers. This includes commercial and non-profit organizations, Internet sites, various state and local governmental bodies and many other partners.

Following are some examples of ESRB partnerships illustrating how ratings education materials can be effectively distributed to those who need them most, parents. If you're interested in more information about partnership marketing opportunities with the ESRB, please contact us.

Parent Teacher Association (PTA)

In April 2008, the ESRB and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) teamed up to develop and distribute a booklet for parents that provides information about ESRB ratings, step-by-step instructions for setting up parental controls for all new game platforms (Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PLAYSTATION3 and PSP, and Microsoft Vista), a family discussion guide about video games, and guidance for parents about online-enabled games and what they can do to ensure that their child’s experience when playing games online is safe and secure. The booklets were distributed to all 26,000 PTAs, and are available in both English and Spanish on both the ESRB and PTA web sites.

In support of the campaign, a webcast was created featuring ESRB president Patricia Vance, PTA national president Jan Harp Domene, and GamerDad Andrew Bub, who contributed an article about online safety to the booklet. The webcast provides parents with an opportunity to get information and advice straight from the experts, as well as ask questions about any of the topics being discussed.

In November 2006, the ESRB and PTA launched a ratings education campaign which encourages and enables state and local PTA chapters to educate their community’s parents about the ratings through their regular meetings. Various informational resources are made available including brochures in both English and Spanish as well as online support through both the PTA and ESRB websites. For more information on this partnership, click here.

GoodHousekeeping.com

In 2007 ESRB partnered with Good Housekeeping, one of the most prominent and trusted consumer brands in America, to provide its web visitors with information and guidance that will help ensure that their children and families play age-appropriate video games. Two articles by ESRB president Patricia Vance are featured on GoodHousekeeping.com, along with a regularly updated list of the Top 10 selling games that displays each title’s ESRB rating, along with a brief summary of the game.

The first article, "Choosing Video Games For Your Kids," provides guidance to parents on a range of video game related topics, including helpful information about selecting age-appropriate games and setting parental controls that restrict games by ESRB rating. The second, "Playing Video Games Online: The Parent-Friendly Guide," provides information and advice to parents about playing video games over an Internet connection.