The End of the Line for Your Baby Can Read!

By: CCFC

Great news! Today, the Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with Dr. Robert Titzer, creator of the controversial Your Baby Can Read!, a $200 video series that encouraged parents to put infants as young as three months in front of screens. The settlement is the final chapter in CCFC’s long effort to hold the makers of Your Baby Can Read! accountable for its false and deceptive advertising.

In 2011, CCFC and its attorneys at Georgetown University’s Institute for Public Representation filed a FTC complaint documenting how the marketing of Your Baby Can Read! was rife with false and unsubstantiated claims about infant learning. In 2012, the FTC filed false advertising charges against Your Baby Can LLC and Dr. Titzer. Your Baby Can and former CEO Hugh Penton agreed to settle the FTC’s charges, but Dr. Titzer formed a new company, The Infant Learning Company, and continued to claim Your Baby Can Read! could teach babies as young as nine months to read. As part of the new settlement, Dr. Titzer and The Infant Learning Company are now barred from using the phrase “Your Baby Can Read.” Both defendants are prohibited from making any unsubstantiated claims about the performance of any product that teaches reading and Dr. Titzer is barred from endorsing any product unless he has a reasonable basis for its marketing claims.

Today’s settlement is a huge victory for families and a great ending to our three-year campaign. We commend the FTC for their unwavering determination to hold the makers Your Baby Can Read! accountable for deceiving parents. We are particularly pleased that the insidious brand name “Your Baby Can Read!” has been retired for good. The Commission’s actions should serve as a needed wake-up call to media marketers who falsely hype the educational benefits of their products and exploit parents’ natural tendency to want the best for their babies.

Thanks so much to all of you who urged the FTC to investigate CCFC’s charges against Your Baby Can Read! and who support our efforts to hold the so-called “baby-genius” industry accountable. Together, we’re making a real difference in the lives of children.