MPAA: Kids TV Ads for PG-13 Films Were Approved

NEW YORK - The MPAA said Wednesday that ads for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Fox's X-Men: First Class on kids TV shows were approved for the specific times and places they ran.
 
The New York Times had reported that the Children’s Advertising Review Unit had suggested that Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox may have gone against industry guidelines against the use of ads for PG-13 films during most TV shows targeting young children.

Disney had told the Times that it felt it didn't violate any rules, and Fox said its ads were approved by an arm of the MPAA.

The industry trade group confirmed Wednesday that it had put the commercial placements through a vetting process.

"Generally, a few PG-13 rated motion pictures are considered by the Advertising Administration to be compatible with children's programs," an MPAA spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday. "In the noted instances, the Advertising Administration approved the advertisements for the specific time and placement in which they ran.”

The Advertising Administration approves ads for rated films "on a case-by-case basis, taking various factors into consideration, including not only the rating of the motion picture, but its content, the content of the programming with which it will be placed and the time of day in which the ad is run," he added. "The PG-13 rating is a strong caution to parents that they should investigate the motion picture before taking their young children; it does not necessarily mean that the motion picture is inappropriate for children under 13. Indeed, that determination is best left to parents who know and understand the sensitivities of their children."

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai