Best Buy, one of the nation’s largest retailers of computer and videogames, was caught in a lie in a sting conducted this afternoon by Miami, Florida-based Attorney and anti-violent videogame activist Jack Thompson and his son. The sting determined that Best Buy is not really enforcing its policy of not selling M-rated videogames to those under the age of 16. Best Buy stated, in writing, last year that the company would stop selling any and all Mature-rated video games to anyone under 17 years of age and that the company would “ID any buyer who presents to the cashier with an M-rated game who appears to be under the age of 21 years.”
Best Buy wrote out the aforementioned agreement in order to settle a lawsuit brought by Thompson, and launched a public relations campaign to proclaim that it was ID-ing anyone who appeared to be under the age of 21 in order to stop sales of M-rated games to those under 17. In this campaign, Best Buy used the aid of Dr. David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family “to suggest that Best Buy, which helps others fund his organization, was pure as the driven snow,” Thompson stated in a press release. According to the press release, Walsh was “used in such a way that demonstrably has put more kids in harm’s way.”
During the sting earlier today, Jack Thompson’s 13-year-old son attempted to buy the violent game The Warriors, which is arguably one of the most violent videogames ever released. Thompson’s son was asked for ID by the cashier (named Sergio), but when he did not present ID, the cashier simply rung up the sale even though there was no parent in sight.
As a result of Best Buy’s failure to follow the policy it agreed to, in writing, Thompson plans to file a new lawsuit to enforce the agreement, which settled the lawsuit last year, by court order. Interestingly, one of the the law firms that represents Best Buy is the Philadelphia-based law firm of Blank Rome. Blank Rome, the largest law firm/lobbyist contributor of campaign money to Bush-Cheney and the Republican National Committe. In the press releae, Thompson noted that it was “odd that a ‘family values’ Bush Administration would accept campaign cash from Blank Rome, which is the chief registered lobbyist in both the US House and Senate for the makers of The Warriors and Bully.”toothless
