New York, NY May 1, 2003 – The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB), the children's advertising industry's self-regulatory forum, announced that advertising for Dairy Management Inc. entitled "Chocolate Milk, Too Good To Waste" is in violation of CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising (the Guidelines). The commercial, shown on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network during traditional children's viewing time, came to the attention of the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) through its routine monitoring of advertising directed to children.

The commercial depicts a boy scaring an older brother who is walking near a staircase as he is carrying a glass of chocolate milk. The younger brother, with tape on his face in an attempt to look like a monster, jumps out of a cabinet with an unsettling scream. Startled, the older child steps quickly backward, trips over a skateboard, falls backward down a staircase, over the family room sofa and onto the floor, never spilling a drop of milk. As the older brother takes a sip, a voice-over states "Too good to waste."

CARU's Guidelines address the special susceptibilities and vulnerabilities of the child audience. CARU finds that the advertisement violates the guideline prohibiting the depiction of children or adults in unsafe situations and believes that the behavior presented in the commercial, namely a child intentionally scaring another and causing him to fall backwards down a flight of stairs, is easily duplicable by average children and could cause serious injury. Thus, CARU recommended removing this advertisement from children's programming during which the commercial is currently being broadcast and placing it where it would be more appropriate.

Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) disagreed with CARU's conclusion that this commercial encourages inappropriate behavior because yelling "surprise" is commonplace behavior and not antisocial. DMI asserted, "children are able to understand the commercial's portrayal of the extravagantly cartoonish result of the behavior for what it is, namely, a fantastic, humorous and entirely unrealistic occurrence." DMI refused to discontinue the commercial.

CARU's inquiry was conducted under NAD/NARB/CARU Procedures for Voluntary Self-Regulation of National Advertising. Details of the inquiry, CARU's decision and the advertiser's response will be included in the next NAD/CARU Case Report.

Members of the press who wish to see a copy of the decision now should email CARU.

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The National Advertising Review Council (NARC) was formed in 1971 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Inc. (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation, Inc. (AAF), and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB). Its purpose is to foster truth and accuracy in national advertising through voluntary self-regulation. NARC is the body that establishes the policies and procedures for the CBBB's National Advertising Division (NAD), the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU), and the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).

NAD and CARU are the investigative arms of the advertising industry's voluntary self-regulation program. Their casework results from competitive challenges from other advertisers, and also from self-monitoring traditional and new media, including the Internet. The National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appeals body, is a peer group from which ad-hoc panels are selected to adjudicate those cases that are not resolved at the NAD/CARU level. This unique, self-regulatory system is funded entirely by the business community; CARU is financed by the children's advertising industry, while NAD/NARB's sole source of funding is derived from membership fees paid to the Council of Better Business Bureaus.