CARU Puts the Heat on Movie Advertisers

Movie advertisers continue to be pressed by the ad community's self-regulatory arm not to advertise PG-13 movies in kids TV shows.

The latest spot to run afoul of the Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus is an advertisement for Sony's Stomp The Yard that aired on Nickelodeon.

The movie has scenes of violence and some sexual material that CARU thinks are inappropriate to advertise during children's programming.

Sony has countered that it "made every effort to target the film to adults, teens and older children."

Advertisers cited by CARU have argued before that a PG-13 rating doesn't mean it is inappropriate for children, but that parental guidance may be necessary.

CARU counters that since some of the scenes may not be appropriate for kids, the

ads are not appropriate for kids shows

.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.