The ear worm has been silenced — not just in Santa Monica, but across California.
An Orange County judge has ordered Kars4Kids to stop airing its groan-inducing ads in the state beginning June 8, after finding that the charity’s long-running campaign violated the state’s false advertising and unfair competition laws.
The case dates back to 2021, when Orange County resident Bruce Puterbaugh was sucked in by the endlessly familiar “1-877-Kars4Kids” jingle and signed over his vehicle. He believed the donation would help underprivileged children, but later discovered that most of the money instead supports Orthodox Jewish programs through the group’s affiliated nonprofit, Oorah Inc., in New York, New Jersey and the Middle East.
According to the court order published May 8, the ads created a misleading impression about who was benefiting from the donations. Testimony also showed that while Kars4Kids collects money in California, the state doesn’t appear to receive much in the way of direct charitable benefit beyond a backpack drive described in court as more of a branding exercise.
For years, the jingle has lived rent-free in the heads of drivers, radio listeners and anyone unlucky enough to be trapped near a commercial break.
For now, Kars4Kids is not being kicked out of California, per se. But the ruling effectively cuts off its old playbook. The group can still operate, but only if it finds a new way to advertise that meets the court’s disclosure requirements.
Kars4Kids says the ruling is “deeply flawed” and argues that its website already makes clear the organization is Jewish. The company was ordered to pay $250 to Puterbaugh.
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