BBB National Programs Archive

CARU Refers Advertising for ‘Grown Ups 2’ to MPAA for Review

New York, NY – Jan. 30, 2014 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit referred advertising for “Grown Ups 2” – rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America – to the MPAA for review.

CARU is an investigative unit of the advertising industry system of self-regulation. It is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

Television advertising for the film “Grown Ups 2” came to CARU’s attention through its routine monitoring practices. The commercial for “Grown Ups 2” is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for “crude and suggestive content, language and some male rear nudity.”

This commercial aired during the children’s programming.

Under the terms of a referral agreement entered into with the MPAA, if CARU finds an advertisement for a film rated PG-13, R or NC-17 in any medium primarily directed to children under 12, CARU will refer the matter to the MPAA Advertising Administration to determine whether the film is appropriate to be advertised to children.

In this case, the MPAA said that: “its review of the file and communication with the film’s distributor, Sony Entertainment, it determined that the placement of the advertisement for ‘Grown Ups 2’ on Nickelodeon at 6:30p.m.was made in error and the advertisement was not intentionally placed at this time by the distributor.”