Responsible Marketing to Children
Communicating responsibly to kids through advertising is a very
complex topic. There are constantly new guidelines, laws, and issues
that companies need to know regarding outreach to young consumers.
TIA’s goal is to preserve the toy industry’s right to
communicate to children while acknowledging and promoting corporate
social responsibility in such outreach. The Association and its members
acknowledge and promote compliance with relevant laws and guidelines
while also helping to empower parents, children and families to make
informed choices regarding the products they purchase.
Children's Online Privacy
The protection of children’s privacy online is a
fast-developing “hot button” issue in the U.S. and abroad.
To assist TIA members in understanding the ever-expanding array of laws
and regulations, policy initiatives, self-regulatory standards, and
reports addressing various aspects of privacy and data security,
TIA’s Responsible Marketing to Children Committee has developed
two members-only publications:
- The
Changing Privacy and Data Security Landscape: From Mobile Apps to
OBA – provides background on the issues and a status
report on significant U.S. and international laws and policy
developments.
 Checklist
for Mobile Apps and Promotions – provides a framework
that toy companies can use to examine and evaluate the risks and
opportunities related to their app initiatives. The checklist
facilitates a robust review of the app initiative or app development
process to identify issues and solutions that will protect the
company’s legal and reputational interests in its app-related
activities.
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule
The Children’s
Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule is the federally
mandated law to protect childrens’ privacy. Administered by the
Federal Trade Commission, COPPA limits how companies may collect and
disclose childrens’ personal information; the need for the COPPA
Rule has increased in light of evolving business practices and
technological developments such as social networking sites and mobile
devices.
How to Comply with
the COPPA Rule
A guide prepared by the Federal Trade Commission staff to help companies
comply with the requirements for protecting children's privacy online
and understand the FTC's enforcement authority.
Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU)
The Children’s
Advertising Review Unit (CARU) is the children's arm of the
advertising industry's self-regulation program. CARU evaluates
child-directed advertising and promotional material in all media to
advance truthfulness, accuracy and consistency; its Guidelines address
advertising directed to children under 13 and online privacy and safety
directed to children under 12.
The following resources are available to help toy industry stakeholders
learn more about CARU, its mission and how it develops and maintains its
guidelines for outreach to young consumers
Webinar
for TIA Members (.pdf) (view course
description)
Providing TIA members and others in the youth marketplace must-have
information on new guidelines, emerging issues and relevant laws
regarding any type of outreach to young consumers. CARU staff helps toy
companies and their communications/advertising partners better
understand:
CARU,
its mission, and how it develops and maintains its guidelines for
outreach to young consumers; The
current edition of CARU’s Self-Regulatory Guidelines for
Children's Advertising and relevant laws; Newly
developed guidelines and emerging issues, including content blurring and
privacy; Principles
addressing the most common issues (including case studies and examples
that will help to illustrate key points).
CARU
Update on Child-Directed Advertising
Experts from the Children's Advertising Review Unit explain how the
advertising industry's self-regulatory body reviews and evaluates
child-directed advertising in all media to help ensure accurate,
responsible messaging to kids and the work that's underway to help
assure their privacy online.
CARU’s
Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising and relevant
laws
CARU’s self- regulatory program sets high
standards for the industry to assure that advertising directed to
children is not deceptive, unfair or inappropriate for its intended
audience. The standards take into account the special vulnerabilities of
children, e.g., their inexperience, immaturity, susceptibility to being
misled or unduly influenced, and their lack of cognitive skills needed
to evaluate the credibility of advertising.
International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI)
The International Council of Toy
Industries (ICTI) is the industry association for the
worldwide toy industry. Its membership includes national toy
associations from twenty countries, each of which has its own membership
made up of toy brands operating in its own geography.
Guiding
Principles for Advertising and Marketing Communication to
Children
ICTI and its members are committed both to maintaining ethical standards
in marketing and advertising to children across all channels of
communication as part of an advertising and marketing self-regulation
program and also to adhering to local government regulations and
requirements.
The objective of ICTI’s guiding principles is to ensure that toy
industry advertisers and marketers develop and maintain a high sense of
social responsibility in advertising and marketing to children around
the world. It is not meant to be a code.
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