Chris Dodd, CEO of MPAA, explains the new ‘Check the Box’ movie rating system, demonstrating a stereotypical gesture that would be flagged to let parents better protect their children.

The Motion Picture Association of America has rolled out its new ‘Check the Box‘ campaign, designed to give parents more information, along with movie letter ratings, to determine if a film is appropriate for children, according to MPAA Chairman and Executive Chris Dodd, the former Democrat U.S. Senator.

“A lot of parents want to take their kids to a particular movie,” Dodd said, “but they’re concerned that the film may contain inappropriate themes — like an unabashed patriotic pro-American bias, monogamous heterosexual marriage relationships, heroic portrayals of business people or soldiers, gratuitous consumption of meat products and large sugary beverages, or scenes where people criticize their government without suffering the consequences.”

Dodd said the new ‘Check the Box’ campaign will fill the information void in the previous letter-based ratings system that often left parents wondering why a movie had been labeled PG-13, R or NC-17.

“Often parents would screen these movies first to protect their kids, and come out of the theater scratching their heads over why the film got a restrictive rating when it contained little but ordinary graphic violence, nudity, sexual acts and obscene language,” said Dodd. “So, then they have to go back, taking their young children, and wind up paying to see the movie twice. That’s not fair.”