CARU East Coast Conference to Explore Relationship between Technology and Children’s Advertising

August 9, 2011 | The Children’s Advertising and Review Unit (CARU) will hold its East coast conference, “Marketing to Children: Privacy, Food and Digital Media” on October 5, 2011 in New York City.

Co-locating with the National Advertising Division (NAD) conference (held October 3-4, 2011) at the Ritz Carlton-New York in Battery Park, CARU’s event will focus on the challenging issues currently faced by the children’s advertising industry. Speakers will address the ways that technology has changed kid-targeted marketing as well as regulatory and self-regulatory initiatives in the areas of social media, food advertising and sweepstakes and promotions.

Carla R. Michelotti, Global Chief Legal, Government & Corporate Affairs Officer at Leo Burnett Company will deliver the keynote address on the morning of October 5th; Julie Brill, Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will deliver the afternoon keynote.

Topics throughout the day will cover the latest developments in the proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule (which was enacted in April 2000 and requires Web site operators to obtain parental consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under 13) and recent FTC enforcement actions; creative promotions that abide by legal parameters; apps, mobile games, video games and other media that advertisers are using to reach younger markets; creating ethically responsible social media and advertising for children; self-regulation and responsible food marketing to children; and the online practices of teens and tweens. [See full agenda and speakers online.]

The NAD portion of the conference, “What’s New in Advertising Law, Claim Support and Self-Regulation,” will give participants an insider’s knowledge of advertising law and the ad industry’s self-regulatory system, and will explore the legal trends and key issues in online behavioral advertising; claim substantiation; social media; mobile marketing; and more. Featured speakers will include David C. Vladeck, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection at the FTC and Ted Lazarus, Senior Counsel at Google, Inc.

As previously reported in Toy News Tuesday, CARU’s West coast conference, “Children’s Advertising and Online Privacy Summit,” was held on May 18, 2011. The event focused on children’s online behavior and corresponding actions to assure that youth remain safe.  The Toy Industry Association (TIA), a supporter of CARU, was present at the event and reiterated the toy industry’s request that CARU ensure its guidelines accurately reflect current technologies and that its self-regulatory guidelines be habitually maintained to keep pace with change. TIA will be represented at the East coast conference as well.

CARU is the children's arm of the advertising industry's self-regulation program. The organization evaluates child-directed advertising and promotional material in all media to advance truthfulness, accuracy and consistency; its scope includes advertising directed to children under 12 and online privacy and safety directed to children under 13.

For more information about the conference, please visit the event website.