CARU Sends Hulk to MPAA for Kids’ Ad Call
Better Business Bureau’s Children’s Advertising Review Unit takes issue with ad for The Incredible Hulk during Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants.
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/3/2008 12:38:00 PM
The Children’s Advertising Review Unit of the Better Business Bureau continued to take issue with TV ads for some big-ticket theatrical summer releases.
The latest was The Incredible Hulk, which CARU said was advertised during Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants and referred to the Motion Picture Association of America for its decision on whether the marketing violates its own advertising self-regulation limiting the advertising of some PG-13 films.
CARU feels that PG-13 movies should not be advertised during TV shows with audiences primarily 12 years old and under. In the case of The Incredible Hulk, it pointed out that the movie has a warning for “intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images and brief suggestive content.”
Studios have argued that the movies aren’t de facto unsuitable for kids, and that kids can watch them with parental guidance.
In recent weeks, CARU referred ads for Get Smart, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Iron Man.
In March, CARU reached an agreement with the MPAA in which it will refer advertisers that intentionally place PG-13 ads during kids’ shows to the MPAA to determine whether they have violated movie-industry guidelines for such advertising. Previously, CARU was making that determination.
