CARU Recommends Rexall-Sundown Discontinue Child-Directed Advertising For Gummies Multivitamins; Company Agrees To Do So

New York, NY – June 9, 2010 –The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., has recommended that Rexall Sundown Inc., discontinue child-directed advertising for Gummies multivitamins, which carry the label warning “keep out of reach of children.”  The company has agreed to do so.

Print advertising for Gummies came to the attention of CARU through CARU’s routine monitoring of advertising directed to children. The advertising at issue appeared in appeared in the March 2010 issue of National Geographic Kids magazine. The advertisement featured a box of Gummies, accompanied by the tag line “Health Habits Start Now!” 

CARU’s guidelines provide that advertisers should not advertise products directly to children that pose safety risks to them including products labeled, “Keep out of the reach of children.”

Upon receipt of CARU’s initial inquiry, the advertiser stated that it placed its advertisement based on demographic information that indicated the publication is ready by parents with their children. The advertiser agreed not to run further advertisements for the product in child-directed magazines.

The company, in its advertiser’s statement, said the advertisement in question “was printed only once and will not be printed again. We appreciate CARU’s consideration and suggestions, and will use both as guidance for potential future advertisements.”