CARU-The Most Insulting Advertising in the US

In 1974 the NARC(National Advertising Review Council) established the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) part of the Council of Better Business Bureaus(CBBB) in order to enforce "responsible children's advertising". CARU is based on the core belief that children under 12 have not yet acquired the cognitive capabilities necessary to effectively evaluate the credibility of an advertisement. CARU believes that children under 12 are more vulnerable to advertising than adolescents and adults and therefore require special advertising regulations. CARU is composed mainly of parents, child development specialists, child mental health specialists, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Advertisers must adhere to stringent guidelines when targeting their advertising to children. Complaints are issued by CARU and parents are encouraged to be on the look out for "irresponsible children's advertising" and voice their complaints to CARU where necessary.
 Regulations require that advertising is not misleading, does not pressure purchase, and that it uses simplified vocabulary otherwise known as baby-talk, or child directed speech. CARU also requires that advertisers air their advertisements on appropriate stations and at specific times during children's programming. Ads containing characters adjacent  the programming taking place must air either after the show is over, or must clearly state that it is indeed an advertisement.
 Ads targeting children must air during children's programming, and ads not targeting children must not. Ads must depict realistic product performance, must properly depict adult supervision, and children must not appear using products that are labeled "keep out of reach of children". Advertisers that are out of compliance are first issued a warning and are given a chance to modify their ads and comply in their future advertising. If this is not done, ads are removed from the air, and advertisers are subject to long and grueling court battles.
Many companies have been unfairly confronted about their child-directed advertisements.
Many ads which inflict no harm on a child's well being are subject to ridicule and unnecessary modifications.
Such instances include J&J's Listerine Smart Rinse ad which aired during Dora the Explorer. Advertisers were subject to ridicule as CARU found this ad "inappropriate for children" due to its  "Keep out of Reach of Children" label. J&J found the proposal absurd, and an unnecessary battle occurred. Many stations have been confronted for airing trailers for movies rated PG-13 during children's programming. CARU is not only invasive to the rights of advertisers and TV stations, it is simply insulting to the children. CARU underestimates the overall intelligence, maturity, and skepticism of children, and promotes a false and insulting image of children throughout the United States. Children are no more vulnerable to deceptive advertising than are adults. Children and adults alike have the same potential to be deceived. Children often mock and question advertisements, ignore them all together, or think before purchasing, or having their parents purchase.
 Children can sense misleading ads when they see them and treat them with skepticism. Children often do not take ads at face value at first sight and can often distinguish between advertising and programming. Advertising does not influence whether children will handle the product correctly, and children do not think about how it was advertised when judging the proper usage advertised products. Many children of today's society hardly even view commercials at all. Children will often fast-forward through commercials to continue watching the desired programming, meaning that advertising is missed almost entirely and is almost never taken seriously! Why impose severe, unrealistic, and falsely based guidelines. Children's advertising should be treated just as the rest, and should be handled no differently.

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