Last week, the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus concluded that Johnson & Johnson’s commercial for its Clean & Clear Moisturizer SPF15 (Clean & Clear) was inappropriately directed at children. The decision was based in part on CARU’s advertising guidelines, which state that products (including drugs) that “pose safety risks” should not be advertised directly to children. As a general matter, cosmetics containing sunscreens are regulated by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs that are required to be labeled with the warning “Keep out of the reach of children.” Based on the ruling, sunscreens and other OTC drug products, such as lip balms, are examples of products that CARU believes pose safety risks and, as such, should not be advertised to children.  

Johnson & Johnson argued in its submission to CARU that Clean & Clear was packaged to appeal to a more mature audience and was not intended for use by children. Johnson & Johnson further noted the Clean & Clear commercial had aired during a showing of the television program H2O on Teen Nick (Nickelodeon), a nighttime block of programming aimed at teenagers. Last, Johnson & Johnson stated that Clean & Clear posed no safety risks to children.  The company asked CARU to consider exempting such products from its guidelines as long as they are advertised responsibly. 

CARU’s decision concerning Clean & Clear is indicative of the increased scrutiny regulators are placing on children’s products, as well as on marketing directed towards children. 

Please let us know if you have any questions, of if you would like to discuss this matter further. 

Georgia Ravitz
ravitz.georgia@arentfox.com
202.857.8939

James R. Ravitz
ravitz.james@arentfox.com
202.857.8903

Amy S. Colvin
colvin.amy@arentfox.com
202.857.6338

James H. Hartten
hartten.james@arentfox.com
202.857.8983