The Dove Foundation is an American non-profit organization based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, that issues film reviews, ratings and endorsements of movies that it considers suitable for family audiences, and that bases said reviews on Christian values.

Description

The organization was founded in 1991 as a not-for-profit organization. According to the organization's website, its stated mission is "to encourage and promote the creation, production, distribution and consumption of wholesome family entertainment". Although its programs are diversified, it is perhaps best known for reviewing movies for suitability for family viewing, and endorsing acceptable ones with the Dove "Family-Approved" Seal. The organization has also commissioned independent studies completed by the

Seidman College of Business The Seidman College of Business is an American business school operated by Grand Valley State University. The college is named after Francis E. Seidman, one of the principal founders of the BDO Seidman accounting firm and the father of businessm ...

Grand Valley State University Grand Valley State University (GVSU, GV, or Grand Valley) is a public university in Allendale, Michigan. It was established in 1960 as Grand Valley State College. Its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids. The universit ...

to analyze the comparative profitability and return on investment of

MPAA The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...

-rated films in 1999 and 2005. Those studies have reinforced its efforts to advocate for the production of more values based films and have been relied upon by some in the industry seeking support for their projects. Additionally, Dove has sponsored its Family Film Festival in partnership with local theaters featuring films with its Family-Approved Seal and pioneered a pilot project, "The Dove Movie Channel," to bring free movies to hospitalized children. The website states that Dove's fund-raising strategy of not soliciting contributions from the film industry for its operations eliminates commercial pressure as a factor in its reviews. However, The Dove Foundation has partnered with commercial enterprises. In one instance, its former association with Feature Films for Families, an on-line retailer of home entertainment, led to questions regarding the nature of the partnership.

Movie rating system

Dove uses an eight-factor content system (using a scale of 0 to 5), from which it derives a movie's overall rating. The first two factors ("Faith" and "Integrity") are considered "positive" ratings, where a higher number denotes a movie with positive character traits (for "Faith" a rating of 4 or 5 is reserved for movies with overt Christian themes) while a lower number denotes a movie with negative traits. The remaining six factors ("Sexuality", "Language", "Violence", "Drugs", "Nudity", and "Other", the last category for such objectionable content as "Disrespect for authority, lying, cheating, stealing, illegal activity, frightening scenes, demonic or similar references") are "negative" ratings, where a lower number denotes a movie with few or no objectionable items and a higher number denotes a movie with significant objectionable items. From the eight factors a movie, if recommended by Dove, can be rated as "All Ages" (no negative factors over 1), "12+" (no negative factors over 2), or "18+" (some negative factors over 2 but with a Faith rating of 4 or 5).

"Opinion poll" campaign

From 2005 to 2007, the organization partnered with Feature Films for Families to conduct a telephone

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

regarding movie content. Dove says that over 4.5 million participated in the survey. 300 complaints were lodged with the Missouri Attorney General's No Call unit as a result. Dove and their partner were accused by the state of Missouri of violating its "Do Not Call Implementation Act" by using the opinion poll as a means of circumventing the Act to allow Feature Films For Families to market its products. The state of Missouri imposed a restraining order on these activities in Missouri in March 2006. As a result of the Missouri Attorney General's lawsuit, Feature Films for Families Inc. of Murray, Utah, and the Dove Foundation reached a settlement agreement in the amount of US$70,000 in August 2006 for the alleged violation of state "No Call" laws.

Dove Channel

In September 2015,

Cinedigm Cinedigm Corp. is an American entertainment company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Cinedigm's businesses encompass digital cinema, streaming channels, content marketing, and distribution. History Early years Cinedigm Corp was founde ...

partnered with The Dove Foundation to launch Dove Channel, an online streaming service geared towards kids and faith-based viewers.

References

External links

Dove Foundation website

Feature Films for Families website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dove Foundation Advertising and marketing controversies Entertainment rating organizations Non-profit organizations based in Michigan Telemarketing Organizations established in 1991 1991 establishments in Michigan