Biweekly Ad Card imagines modern brands still active today as they would have advertised in mid-century US magazines — then holds them up to the light.
TikTok's babysitter pitch came with a data trail. The newest paperwork is legal, not decorative.
On August 10, 2026, the Ninth Circuit let more than 3,000 lawsuits against TikTok, Meta, Google, Snapchat, and other platforms move forward. Plaintiffs allege that the companies designed addictive products that harmed children. The court said Section 230 did not give them blanket immunity from being sued. 1
On May 8, 2026, ABC News reported that the administration was nearing a proposed $400 million TikTok settlement over alleged Children's Online Privacy Protection Act violations. The proposed terms were not expected to include an admission of wrongdoing and still required TikTok board approval; sources said the money was being discussed for Washington, D.C., "beautification" projects. 2
The FTC's COPPA page lists its August 2, 2024 lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance. The agency explains that COPPA is meant to stop services from collecting personal information from children under 13 without express parental approval. 3
The historical rhyme is Joe Camel. R.J. Reynolds launched the cartoon mascot in the United States in 1988; the campaign ended in 1997 after litigation and federal pressure. A 1991 JAMA study titled "Brand logo recognition by children aged 3 to 6 years: Mickey Mouse and Old Joe the Camel" made the problem hard to disguise. 45
The mascot changed. The child-sized audience did not.
References
- 1
- 2
- 3FTC: Kids' Privacy (COPPA)
ftc.gov
- 4
- 5NIH/PMC: Cannabis Marketing Strategies in the United States
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Comments