That Kursed Kars4Kids Commercial Is Banned In California Not Because It Sucks But Because It Lies

The infamous Kars4Kids commercial is now banned from California airwaves, not because it sucks eggs, but because it's been ruled extremely misleading by a CA court.

According to CBS News, it all started from a 2021 lawsuit that accused Kars4Kids of false advertising, specifically over the allegation that funds raised from donated vehicles did not, as the commercials imply, "help underprivileged kids from all over the U.S.," but instead funded a the purchase of a $16.5 million building in Israel as well as trips to the country for Orthodox Jewish teenagers aged 17 and 18 from New Jersey and New York.

The plaintiff, an Orange County man who had donated his broken 2001 Volvo to the organization, said, according to court documents, that he "felt taken advantage of" when he realized money raised from donated vehicles would not support "underprivileged kids from all over the U.S."

As confirmed by a "strikingly candid" court testimony by Kars4Kids COO Esti Landau, funds raised by Kars4Kids go to Oorah, a Jewish non-profit that runs summer camps in New York and New Jersey as well as young adult "matchmaking programs" and, yes, teenage "gap year" excursions to Israel. She also straight-up admitted that Kars4Kids' "primary purpose is not to help economically disadvantaged children." It operates "no functional programs in California."

Ultimately, an Orange County Superior Court of California judge sided with the plaintiff, deeming the notoriously catchy ads "misleading by omission," "likely to deceive the public," and ordering the organization pay the plaintiff $250.

Kars4Kids issued the following statement: "We believe this decision is deeply flawed, ignores the facts, and misapplies the law. It's well known that we are a Jewish organization and our website makes it abundantly clear. Take a look and judge for yourself: www.kars4kids.org.

"We believe this case was nothing more than a lawyer-driven attempt to siphon off charitable funds for their own gain. We expect to win on appeal because the law and facts are clearly on our side."

I'm not a lawyer, but navigating to the linked website and taking a quick look around, the average person would be hard-pressed to come to the conclusion that Kars4Kids is a Jewish organization. The only indication I could find is a small blurb about eight-tenths of the way down that reads, "Kars4Kids is a registered nonprofit Jewish organization who, together with Oorah, our sister charity, help thousands of children develop into productive members of the community."

I'm not sure how a $16.5 million building in Israel and shipping high school juniors and seniors there equates to "helping children develop into productive members of the community," but again, I'm not a lawyer.

Now might be a good time to let you in on a non-secret: I am Canadian. I grew up in Canada, currently live in Canada, and have therefore never heard the Kars4Kids jingle until about 20 minutes ago, when I started writing this story. But even setting aside the convicted false advertising and coming at it as a non-pre-traumatized, neutral observer, I gotta say: good freakin' riddance.