Hollywood now directly marketing trash to kids: PTC

A family entertainment watchdog is noticing a disturbing new trend with shows meant for teens and preteens.

Shows about teen angst have been around since the beginning of television, and they've been pushing the envelope more and more every year. "[But] Hollywood seems to have taken a very dangerous turn," says Parents Television Council president Tim Winter.

"It used to be that if parents let their kids watch explicit programming, then they could say it was the parent's fault," Winter tells OneNewsNow. "But now they're overtly, directly marketing more of this age-inappropriate material to children."

He cites as an example the Netflix drama "Sex Education," which targets a high school/junior high audience. It depicts teens falling in and out of love – and bed – replete with the usual homosexual relationships and half-naked bodies.

Winter says that's only one of many shows he is concerned about. "[I see] content that is very sexually explicit, sexualizing children, very profane, soaked in bloody violence," he shares. "The type of content that most parents do not want their children to consume is now being marketed by many of the Hollywood outlets directly to children."

Added to his concern, he adds, is that it's far more difficult for parents to keep track of their children's media-viewing habits.

"It's especially difficult in the 21st century with the technology that children have," he laments. "Kids aren't just watching television on the TV set in the family room anymore – they're watching it online, on their handheld phone, on their iPad or their computer."

PTC released a report late last year revealing that in just the past decade, major jumps in violence and profanity have reached youngsters' eyes and ears via television broadcasts.