The Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureas has chalked up another victory in the kids ad self-regulation department.
At the request of CARU, Epiclear, the acne treatment company, has pulled its ads from Cartoon Network and agreed not to advertise its product in children's TV programming.
CARU advised them to do so after noting that its product is clearly labeled: "Keep out of the reach of children."
CARU even has guidelines that explicitly state that products “inappropriate for use by children should not be advertised directly to children. This is especially true for products labeled, ‘Keep out of the reach of children.' "
The company said the ads on Cartoon Network were inadvertent, part of a "cluster" buy. What's good news for protecting kids from acne commercials is bad for Cartoon however, since the company has told the buyer to pull Cartoon from the cluster and not to target kids under 12 with the ads.
That directive ought to be perfectly Epiclear.
