• Brandweek, Tuesday, October 17, 2006 12:15 PM

The Children's Advertising Review Unit is having trouble drafting new guidelines for marketers that target kids, according to sources. The major sticking point: grocery brands and fast-food companies that have adopted positions that are irreconcilable. And a failure by CARU to get its members to agree on new voluntary rules could get the Feds involved--or companies could abandon the group altogether.

Although the guideline review includes any company that targets kids, the main problem is with food marketers. Grocery brands are prepared to accept much more stringent restrictions than burger chains. Joan Bernstein, a former director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, is overseeing the process.

Bernstein says "nutrition standards are on the table," notes Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group that has participated in the review and has criticized the food business. "We don't know whether or not they'll be included in the new guidelines."

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