A content analysis of Green-Band and Red-Band trailers advertising R-rated feature films released in the United States in 2008

Content analyses of material in motion pictures considered inappropriate for young audiences have been conducted since the Payne Fund Studies in the 1930s, and content analyses of such material in film trailers have been conducted for the past decade. However, no social science research has been published on the two-tiered system of film trailers. The present study analyzes the mature content of green-band trailers (approved for all audiences) and red-band trailers (approved for restricted audiences aged 17 and older) advertising the same feature films, those released with both categories of trailers in 2008. Violent content was coded most frequently, with sexual content the second-most-common category among green-band trailers and potentially offensive language the second-most-common category coded in red-band trailers. Implications for potential young viewers are addressed, as is a broader research agenda utilizing a similar population of trailers.