Abstract
Profanity in popular music has been blamed for causing an increase in adolescent violence following recent mass shootings. Using Visual Basic for Application scripts, I compile a dataset that includes profanity counts from 2688 songs (1970-2012) and 2186 movies (1980-2012) in order to analyze the effect of the Parental Advisory Label. This study finds that, using differences-in-differences estimators, there was a decrease in profanity in popular music following the adoption of the label. Furthermore, after evaluating the survival characteristics of number one hits, we find significant reductions in the longevity of songs with profanity; which implies the decrease in profanity following the labeling may be due to an artist response to consumer preferences. Finally, using socioeconomic data from various government agencies and the aforementioned profanity set, we find no significant relationship between profanity and juvenile crime or teen pregnancy.