The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) hosted its first Toy Drive to benefit the Marine Toys for Tots foundation. CARU invited members of its office and building to contribute new, unwrapped toys in an effort to spread holiday joy to some of the more than 15 million children living in poverty in the United States. CARU collected over 50 toys to donate! There were toys for children of all ages. From building blocks to board games, CARU hopes to brighten many children's holidays. CARU hopes to make this an annual tradition in an effort to help make the season bright! Toys for Tots have drop-off locations across New York City. Toys for Tots are accepting donations until Monday December 14th. To find a drop-off location near you, click here . Toy distribution takes place mid to late December. Coordinators pick up the toys and store them in central warehouses where the toys are sorted by age and gender. At Christmas, Coordinators, with the assistance of local social w

Ofcom, the UK telecom's watchdog, conducted a study recently that suggests that only one third of young people aged 12-15 understand when search results on Google are advertisements. And this figure unsurprisingly dipped lower for children aged 8-11 where less than one in five children understood when results were sponsored. This study suggests that merely because children are extremely adept (often more so than even their parents) that this does not mean that children understand when something is a paid advertisement--even when it is labeled as such. Among other things, the research also suggests that this lack of awareness also is noticeable when it came to children and YouTube where 53% of those surveyed in the age group of 12-15 year-olds were unaware that vloggers may be paid to endorse products. To read the full study, click here .

The Federal Trade Commission has granted approval for a new method that companies can use to obtain verifiable parental consent under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule. Riyo Verified Ltd. uses a "face match to verified photo identification" (FMVPI) as a method to verify that the person offering consent for a child is indeed that child's parent. FMVPI is a two-step process where a parent first provides an image of their photo identification (like a driver's license), which is legitimized using various technologies to ensure it is authentic. In the second step, the parent then provides a photo of themselves with a phone or web camera. This photo is then analyzed to confirm that the live person is indeed a live person and that the photo is the same person in the identification. To learn more about this new method, visit the FTC's website .

VTech acknowledged that there was a data breach on November 14 that will affect over 5 million customer accounts, including those of children.  The hack is said to have specifically targeted VTech's "Learning Lodge" app database. Children's photos as well as chats between parents and kids were apparently vulnerable during the attack. All affected customers were contacted directly. To learn more about the hack, click here .