CARU Examines Ad for Dirty South Bat’s W.A.R. Product; Recommends Advertiser Modify, Discontinue Claims

New York, NY – Sept.  21,  2016  – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) has determined that claims made in testimonials for Dirty South Bat’s W.A.R. baseball bats should be modified or discontinued.

CARU, an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation, monitors advertising directed to children in all media and across all platforms. CARU is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

A print advertisement for Dirty South Bats, manufactured by Dirty South Bats Ltd., appeared in Baseball Youth magazine and came to CARU’s attention through CARU’s routine routine monitoring of advertising directed to children.

At issue were the following claims, made in testimonials:

• “My 8 year old is using Dirty South Bat W.A.R. … he is hitting the fence at 210ft!!!!  Love these, have several other brands, but he won’t use anything else!” …Kristi, FL

• “Picked up 2 W.A.R. bats for our 11U team.  They are awesome!  Only wish we could afford more for the entire team and they’d be dominant!  So glad and proud to have something made in our won backyard.”…  Steve, GA

Following its review, CARU determined that a child who viewed the advertisement could believe that using the bat would allow a player to hit a baseball 210 feet and ensure victory for the child’s team.

Given the absence of evidence in the record to support either claim, CARU recommended

that the advertiser either discontinue the claim, “he is hitting the fence at 210ft!” or clearly and conspicuously disclose the generally expected performance for the average child using the W.A.R bat.

CARU also recommended that the advertiser discontinue the statement, “Only wish we could afford more for the entire team and they’d be dominant!” in its advertising directed to children.

Dirty South Bats, in its advertiser’s statement, said that the company “agrees that for future advertising directed to children it will qualify its endorsement claims where necessary and will also ensure that any future endorsements meet the criteria outlined in CARU’s decision.”