The Board of Film Censors (BFC) provides Consumer Advice on all the works it classifies to enable the public to make informed choices.

Required for Restricted Ratings

All films and videos with restricted ratings (i.e. NC16 and above) must be accompanied by consumer advice, alongside the rating. For example, a film rated M18 may have a consumer advice of “Sexual Scenes” or “Violence and Gore”. Meanwhile, selected PG-rated films, for instance, may carry the consumer advice of, “Horror” or “Some coarse language”.

The BFC does not dictate the positioning of the consumer advice on the sleeve or packaging but stipulates that it must be clearly visible to the consumers.

Distributors and companies have the option to paste the consumer advice on the sleeve or packaging of the video, or they may incorporate the consumer advice when designing the key art work.

Consumer advice should also be reflected on publicity materials.

It is an offence to modify or distort the consumer advice, or to conceal the advisory in a position where it is less likely to be noticed.

For an example of consumer advice on a video packaging, please click here.

Edited Versions

With the introduction of the “Classify All-Content” policy in August 2008, the need for consumer advice becomes crucial.

To inform consumers if a film they are intending to purchase is an Edited Version. Edited version, in this instance, refers to versions of the films that may have been edited by the production studios or are versions released in various regions/ areas of the world.