CCFC to FTC: Whatever Happened to BabyFirstTV?

CCFC to FTC: Whatever Happened to BabyFirstTV?

BOSTON, July 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- It's been two years since The Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood filed a Federal Trade Commission complaint against Baby Einstein, Brainy Baby, and BabyFirstTV for false and deceptive marketing. The FTC's subsequent investigation spurred significant changes to Baby Einstein's and Brainy Baby's marketing. The FTC never responded to CCFC's Complaint against the first television station for babies. BabyFirstTV continues making brazen claims about its educational benefits for infants -- without providing substantiation. In a letter sent today, CCFC urged the FTC to hold BabyFirstTV accountable for its deceptive marketing by offering refunds to subscribers.

"The FTC's delay puts countless babies at risk," said Susan Linn, CCFC's director. "BabyFirstTV's deceptive marketing makes it likely that a whole cohort of babies has already missed out on experiences like creative play and interacting with parents that are essential to their growth and development."

The FTC's response to CCFC's Complaint stated, "Advertisers must have adequate substantiation for educational and/or cognitive development claims that they make for their products, including for videos marketed for children under the age of two." BabyFirstTV continues to make unsubstantiated claims that its channel "is an educational tool" that gives babies a "head start, in art, math, language, and music."

"The standards established by the FTC indicate that BabyFirstTV must substantiate educational claims about its programming," said Coriell Wright of the Institute for Public Representation and Counsel for CCFC. "If BabyFirstTV cannot provide research to support these claims, they should be held accountable for violating Section 5 of the FTC Act and for deceiving parents."

CCFC believes that BabyFirstTV cannot substantiate its educational claims. There is no publicly available research demonstrating that television is beneficial to children under two. In 2007, BabyFirstTV sent a cease and desist letter to CCFC stating that, "any and all claims [BabyFirstTV] makes about its programming are backed by overwhelming substantiation." Yet the "evidence" offered by BabyFirstTV consisted of research conducted almost exclusively with older children and entirely with children watching programming other than BabyFirstTV.

"The significant developmental differences between infants and preschoolers makes it ludicrous to claim that research conducted with older children tells us anything about BabyFirstTV," said Dr. Linn.

CCFC's letter is available at http://commercialfreechildhood.org/pdf/bftlettertoftc.pdf.

A timeline is available at http://commercialfreechildhood.org/babyvideos/bfttimeline.htm.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood

CONTACT: Josh Golin of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood,
+1-617-278-4172, jgolin@jbcc.harvard.edu

Web Site:

http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/

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