CARU Recommends Wicked Cool Toys Modify TV Ad that Doesn’t Adequately Depict Adult Supervision; Company Agrees to Do So

New York, NY –  Feb. 17, 2016  – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit has recommended that Wicked Cool Toys modify broadcast advertising for the  “Girl Scouts Cookie Oven” to depict adult supervision of children using the product. The company has agreed to do so.

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

The advertising at issue came to the attention of CARU through CARU’s routine monitoring practices.

CARU’s guidelines on safety state that when an activity would be unsafe without adult supervision, supervision should be depicted. When determining the issue of safety, CARU also considers the recommendations of the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission (CPSC).  Its publication entitled, “The Dangers of Electric Toys,” recommends that parents supervise the use of any electrical toy product.

The toy in this case has a heating element and it not recommended for children under 8 years of age.  The commercial features 3 children of appropriate age playing with the oven, but does not depict any adult supervision.

In response to CARU’s initial inquiry, Wicked Cool Toys said that it would modify the commercial to include a depiction of adult supervision along with an audio disclosure.

The company, in its advertiser’s statement, said that it accepts CARU’s “decision in its entirety and will update the commercial to include a clear visual of a parent overseeing the activity in future airings of the Girl Scouts Cookie Oven commercial.”