‘EvanTube’ YouTube Channels to Disclose Sponsored Videos as Advertising Following CARU Inquiry
‘EvanTube’ YouTube Channels to Disclose Sponsored Videos as Advertising Following CARU Inquiry
Council of Better Business Bureaus
The “EvanTube” YouTube Channels – EvanTubeHD, EvanTubeRAW and EvanTubeGaming – will include, going forward, an audio disclosure before each new sponsored video to assure that child viewers understand that the content they are about to see is advertising. The EvanTube Channels agreed to provide such a disclosure following a review by the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU).
CARU is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation. It is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.
CARU monitors advertising directed to children in all media and across all platforms. In this case of first impression, CARU noted that new media platforms “have heightened the possibility for confusion between advertising and editorial content, especially when it is viewed by children.”
“Of particular concern to CARU are ostensibly user-generated online videos, which contain undisclosed or inadequately disclosed advertising or endorsements in the content of the videos themselves,” the decision states.