New York, NY – August 26, 2008 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., has referred television advertising for the Warner Bros. film “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for further review.

Television advertising for the film “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” came to CARU’s attention through its routine monitoring practices.  The commercial for “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2,” rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for “mature material and sensuality,” aired, among other times, on July 21, 2008, on Nick 1 during children’s programming.

CARU’s Self-Regulatory Program for Children’s Advertising states in part that advertisers “should take care to assure that only age appropriate videos, films and interactive software are advertised to children, and if an industry rating system applies to the product, the rating label is prominently displayed.”

In evaluating whether the content of movie and video games are inappropriate for children CARU looks to industry ratings. According to MPAA Advertising guidelines, PG-13 films with certain content may only be advertised to particular audiences. The Advertising Administration works with film companies in targeting ads appropriately; ads for films containing mature content may not be directed toward children. 

Pursuant to an agreement with MPAA, this case has been referred to the association for further review to determine whether the film is appropriate to be advertised to children.