CARU's staff kicked off 2018 with its annual visit to New York's Toy Fair, hosted by the Toy Industry Association (TIA), a not-for-profit trade association. Each year, CARU tours showrooms, meets with marketers and views the latest toys as part of its mission to ensure that advertising to children is truthful and accurate.
CARU's Director, Dona Fraser spoke to the toy industry during an intimate panel at Blue Plate Media‘s lounge. Ms. Fraser, gave an informative presentation about CARU and how it works to an audience of CEO’s, Creative and Marketing Directors. During an extended Q&A, attendees were able to pick Ms. Fraser's brain about toys, advertising and COPPA-related issues.
CARU was also invited to the 14th Annual Women in Toys, Licensing & Entertainment Awards. The event was hosted at Chelsea Piers and staff had an excellent time catching up with all the wonderful women in the industry that make toys so fabulous.
CARU’s presence at Toy Fair is an excellent opportunity to meet with new toy companies and share our mission. It's also a great time to catch up with CARU members. CARU visited many showrooms this year, including Mattel, Hasbro, LEGO, Spin Master, Pokémon, Crayola, Jakks Pacific, Playmates Toys and Play Monster. CARU is able to see the new products for the year, receive demonstrations of how they work and ask questions about corresponding advertising and marketing. This aids CARU in its monitoring of advertising directed to young children.
For 2018, CARU interestingly noticed a trending towards wholesome play and away from connected toys, which was a bit of a surprise. Novelty toys and games appear to continue to be a large part of the 2018 campaigns. And notably, everything seemed to be about the poop! Board games, golden toilets, port-o-potties, you name it!
CARU would like to thank the Toy Association for its continued support of our Self-Regulatory Programs. We thank our members and friends in the toy industry for hosting our tours.
