CARU Recommends Kickboard USA Modify Packaging To Depict Use Of Safety Gear; Company Agrees To Do So

New York, NY – April 18, 2011 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., has recommended that Kickboard USA modify product packaging for the company’s Mini Kick scooter to reflect the appropriate use of safety equipment.

The product packaging came to the attentions of CARU, the children’s advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, through a consumer complaint.

The packaging included three photos depicting young children on the scooters without safety gear or shoes.  The following language appeared on the side of the box: “Always make sure that your child wears a safety-approved helmet to ride the mini-kickboard, falling off the mini-kickboard without such safety precautions may cause serious or even fatal injury.”

The package contained a sheet with ten illustrated safety rules.  Rule number four was a drawing of a child riding a scooter with no shoes and a red line through it to indicate that you should not ride the scooter without shoes.

CARU was concerned that the depiction of young children without safety equipment or shoes would give children the impression that wearing safety gear was not necessary.

In response to CARU’s inquiry, Kickboard said the company was revising packaging to reflect U.S. safety standards. The company agreed to work with CARU to ensure that new packaging is in compliance with CARU’s Self-Regulatory Program for Children’s Advertising.

The company, in its advertiser’s statement said that as the “US distributor for products made by Micro-Mobility, Switzerland, Kickboard USA is strongly in favor of advocating safety in the packaging and use of all the mini kick scooters for kids ages 3-5.  We accept CARU’s decision in its entirety and agree to modify our packaging.”