MPAA Ratings

I found this article really interesting... it talks about the MPAA's criteria for rating a movie PG, PG-13, R, etc.  It talks about the upcoming movie "Ted" in particular and how the red-band and green-band trailers differ.  The red-band trailer, which is supposed to be the more inappropriate one for mature audiences only, includes foul language, Ted smoking a bong, and explicit sexual references.  Surprisingly, the green-band trailer is not a whole lot different.  Although it portrays the movie to be more "cutesie" than the red-band trailer did, there are still explicit drug and sexual references.  Interestingly, the MPAA's own advertising guidebook states that green-band trailers "shall not include excessive or graphic images of violence or sex, excessive profanity, or drug usage."  So why is Ted able to get away with such an inappropriate trailer for green-band standards?

The article continues by discussing the possible reasons why this green-band trailer has been approved: is it due to inconsistencies in the MPAA ad policies, is it a simple mistake, or is it an experiment to see whether it draws complaints from anti-drug activists?  

I, personally, have found the MPAA rating system to oftentimes be confusing or unclear.  A big reason for this is obviously that I just don't know much about it, however there has been a lot of talk in general about how the ratings have drastically changed over time.  What used to be an R rated movie would many times be rated PG-13 today or even lower.  What is the reasoning behind this, and how does it impact genrefication?  Do movies aim to be a certain rating solely to target a certain audience?  Obviously, the answer to this question is yes.  But to exactly what extent do they aim do be a specific rating and how important is the actual rating in the movie's genrefication?

Here is a link to the article:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/04/teds-bong-toke-is-the-mpaa-softening-its-drug-policy.html