My apologies if General Questions isn’t the proper forum for this.
I’m a 19 year old female college junior, but I admit that I look much younger- I could pass for 15 or 16.
I took a shopping trip to Meijer’s today, and I bought myself the DVD of “Brokeback Mountain,” which I’ve been wanting to see. And they carded me. I don’t mind, but this is only the second time I’ve ever been carded when buying a DVD, and I have quite a few R rated films in my collection. I bought “Pulp Fiction” in high school and didn’t get carded. I didn’t get carded for “Fargo.” I didn’t get carded for “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Thelma and Louise,” “Shaun of the Dead,” or “The Terminator.” The only other time I did get carded when I bought both “Basic Instinct” and “Philadelphia” out of the Walmart $5 bin (I’m not a Walmart fan, but I’m such a whore for cheap DVDs that I can’t resisted stopping in every so often to see what’s in that bin).
Is whether or not I get carded based on individual store policy? Whether or not the cashier remembers to do so? Has anyone else gotten carded, or carded someone, for buying an R-Rated DVD?
Probably both. IF the store has a policy and IF the cashier remembers, you get carded.
I am not a lawyer, but I’m unaware of any law making it illegal to sell R-rated DVDs to minors. I believe even movie theatres follow the ratings/age limit policies voluntarily.
It’s voluntary at movie theaters, but (from what I was told when I worked at a theater), if the MPAA finds out that a particular theater is completely and totally disregarding the system, the MPAA will get very pissed off, which is not something the theater management wants.
Well yes, but the MPAA has no legal pull either, AFAIK (besides lobbying, obviously). Basically all they do is certify movies as “fit for children” or “fit for older children” or “don’t bring your kids to see this one” and a lot of theaters appreciate it and so only show movies rated by them. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. I’m not exactly sure what the MPAA could do to a theater it’s “really pissed off at”, either, unless it distributes the films itself.
When I was a cashier at Target I never carded anyone for a DVD (or videogame), nor was told to.
However, I remember when Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (I believe it was S.A., right?) got recalled due to the whole nudey scene thing. I had to deny it to a woman who was buying it for her 40ish year old husband.
I think you haven’t been carded for more than a couple because this seems to be a new policy stores have, and I also suspect it’s a unilateral policy too, not one based on how old you look like with cigarettes or alcohol. The first R or M-rated movie (Blade Trinity) I got carded for was just last year, a couple weeks after my twenty-eighth birthday. I look younger, but not that much younger. I got carded for another a few weeks ago…I actually think it was Cool World, which I didn’t even know was R-rated.
I always thought Cool World was PG-13 too (and IMDB agrees with us), so I think the cashier was just an idiot.
But I remember first being carded for a DVD when I bought Wild Things a few years ago. I was 20 or 21 I think and looked a little younger, maybe 17, but no younger.
I think the cashier did it because she disapproved of the HOT NAKED WOMEN I was about to subject myself too. Yes (if you’re reading this) I caught that eye roll you shot me when you thought I was looking away.
When I’ve bought wine at Meijer I’ve been carded. I’m 39, and while I like to think I look younger, I had my old hag of a wife (34 who also looks younger) and 2 kids with me. The checkout system automatically notified the cashier to card me. I suspect the same system may be in place for R movies. I’ll have to ask my nearly retired in-laws if they still get carded.
I’d grumble about the “boys night out” on Friday… where EVERYONE in the group (ages 25-35, I’m 35) got carded, at every stop, EXCEPT ME! :smack: … but this isn’t the pit.
Carding is a wierd thing, I’ve recently been carded for age restricted items in some gas stations, but rarely at a bar or proper liquor store… I’m also bearded, with a healthy dosing of gray in the beard… My wife (32) still gets carded frequently… though not usually for videos.
I had a laugh in the self-checkout at Whole Foods the other day. I was buying nonalcoholic wine and the automated voice goes: Please see a cashier for assistance with age ID etc. I asked the cashier: Do you I’m old enough to buy nonalcoholic wine? I have only a few gray strands, but enough to make my point. When they programmed the machine to card wine purchases, they must have ignored the distinction.
I actually couldn’t buy sparkling grape juice at Jewel (large mainstream grocery store) once when I forgot my ID. Yep, no alcohol at all, and I’m 31 and buy alcohol there all the time, but I couldn’t buy friggin’ Welch’s sparkling grape juice.
As for the OP, I was a manager at Blovkbuster Video from 1993-2000. When a person opened an account with us, they were required to list any authorized users, and also tell us if we could rent or sell R rated movies and M rated games to anyone on the account under 17. If you came in, presented card or ID and the account said you couldn’t rent or buy them, then I wouldn’t rent or sell them, period. If you came in without an account and wanted to buy something, I’d card and refuse sale to those under age. This was Blockbuster policy, and yes, I followed it.
The bottles WhyNot means are clearly marked “sparkling grape juice” (or “sparkling apple cider”) not “non-alcoholic wine” so there should never have been a problem. Things like near-beer might still contain some small amounts of alcohol, and those you need to be over 21 to buy in NH, but the sparkling juices are 100% alcohol free.
The MPAA has no legal pull, but it can arrange for distributers to stop doing business with particular theaters. Carding for movies and video games is pretty new, and it is voluntary. However, if congress starts to think the voluntary industry-controlled system isn’t keeping Wild Things out of the hands of those who need it most (teenage boys) then it’s going to take matters into its own hands. So, however much I despise the MPAA, a legislated alternative sounds worse.
I’ve never been carded for a movie myself, but I’ll be carded for alcohol until I die, and I’m often asked my age when shopping for swords.
