Table 1.
Rating systems, age appropriateness, and rating definitions in four countries
| Age | Argentina | Brazil | Mexico | United States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 7 | ATP: General audiences. May contain mild violence, language and mature situations. | L: General Audiences. No objectionable content and can be viewed by anyone, regardless of age | AA: General Audiences. Little to no violence, offensive language, or drug abuse. Sexual content limited to mild affection. | G: General Audiences. Little to no violence or offensive language. No nudity, sex scenes or drug use. |
| 7 to 10 | A: Ages 7 and older. Minimal or no violence, sexual or drug use content. | PG: Parental Guidance Suggested. May have some profanity, depictions of violence, or brief nudity. No drug use. | ||
| 10 to 11 | 10: Ages 10 and older. Violent content or inappropriate language for children, even in small amounts (verbal descriptions of licit drugs use and “drug traffic”). | |||
| 12 | 12: Ages 12 and older. May contain physical aggression, drug use, sexual insinuation (verbal aggression, violence description, licit drug use induction, veiled nudity, sexual language, sex simulation, murder or mistreatment of animals). | B: Ages 12 or over. Parental guidance suggested. Minimal, non-extreme violence. Sex only implied. Nudity might be present, but not erotic or degrading. Drug use allusions, but not actual consumption or condoning or glorifying drug abuse. Language may be coarse, but no verbal violence. | ||
| 13 | 13: Ages 13 and older. May contain moderate violence, mild sexual content and mature situations. | PG-13: Ages 13 and older. May go beyond the PG rating in violence, nudity, sexuality, language, and activities related to a mature theme. May contain drug use and nudity that is not sexually oriented. | ||
| 14 | 14: Ages 14 and older. May contain more violent content and/or heavy sexual language (murder, agony, verbal descriptions or insinuation of illegal drug use, obscenity, sexual harassment, nudity) | |||
| 15 | B-15: Ages 15 or older. More explicit content than B rating, but extreme violence, explicit sexual content, drug abuse (or scenes of drugs being glorified), and verbal violence is still prohibited. | |||
| 16 | 16: Ages 16 and older. May contain stronger violence, sex and coarse language. | 16: Ages 16 and older. May contain more violent content or more intense sexual content, with scenes of torture, suicide, rape or nudity (children or adolescents involved in drug licit use or sale, illicit drug use, no explicit sexual intercourse, abortion, mutilation) | ||
| 17 | R: Ages 17 and older. May include adult themes, adult activity, hard language, intense or persistent violence, sexually-oriented nudity, drug abuse or elements. | |||
| 18+ | 18: 18 and older. Strong violence, sex and coarse language | 18: Ages 18 and older. May contain extreme sexual content and violence, explicit sex, incest, or frequent torture, mutilation or sexual abuse (pedophilia, children involved in illicit drug use or sale) | C: High degree of violence (including cruelty), sexual content, and/or drug abuse/references. Verbal violence and offensive language is permitted, but only for narrative purposes. | NC-17: 18 and older. Extreme violence, sex, aberrational behavior, drug abuse or other content that most parents would consider off-limits for their children |
For this study, films were considered adult-rated if they were rated 16 or 18 in Argentina and Brazil; C & C or B-15 in Mexico (analyzed both ways); and R in the US. Films were considered youth rated if they were rated as ATP or 13 in Argentina; L, 10, 12 or 14 in Brazil; AA, A or B & AA, A, B or B-15 in Mexico (analyzed both ways), and G, PG, or PG-13 in the US.