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Store Brands, Fast Feeders Split On CARU Guidelines

Brandweek, Tuesday, October 17, 2006 1 PM

Because grocery brands are prepared to accept much more stringent restrictions on kids' marketing than fast-food chains, The Children's Advertising Review Unit is having difficulty drafting new guidelines for marketers who target children. A failure by CARU--a unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus--to get its members to agree on new voluntary rules could invite intervention from the federal government. On the other hand, some marketers may abandon CARU if it promulgates rules they feel they cannot follow.

Kraft, PepsiCo, Mars, Campbell Soup and Dannon signed a pledge Oct. 6 as part of Bill Clinton's Alliance for a Healthier Generation that commits the companies to only sell food that meets certain nutritional guidelines in schools. Fast-feeders like McDonald's and Burger King, however, are so heavily dependent on burgers, fries and fried chicken that joining the grocery brands would be logistically difficult.

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