DETROIT – Many parents try to carefully screen the programming they allow their younger children to watch.

Bobbie Squires of Brighton is one of those parents. So she was very surprised when an R-rated commercial started playing during a G-rated movie she selected through her Comcast "On Demand" menu.

"We went from a family movie to suddenly almost an R-rated content show repeatedly, which was extremely frustrating," Squires said. "I jumped in front of the TV and did all I could to keep my kids from seeing it. It was an advertisement for 'The Purge,' an R-rated movie -- very gory, bloody people, dark music, running around with weapons."

Squires said she would have understood if the family was watching a more grown-up movie, but they were watching Disney's "The Tooth Fairy."

Squires wasn't able to fast-forward through the commercials because she was watching it On Demand, which does not allow that function.

"I expected those commercials to be appropriate for the audience," she said. "My children aren't the audience for the movie 'The Purge.'"

Mother fights back

Squires reached out to Comcast help, but she felt she wasn't getting the type of response she wanted. In fact, she noticed other inappropriate commercials during other movies like "Horton Hears a Who."

"I felt their response that there was nothing they could do, and the fact that parental controls would not effect this, was an attempt to kind of trivialize my emotions and the situation," Squires said.

Ruth to the Rescue responds

Squires reached out to Local 4 and the Ruth to the Rescue consumer unit contacted Comcast on her behalf -- and got results.

Comcast released a statement that partly said, "We are very sorry for the mistake that was made, and we regret that it took multiple calls and emails from our customer to fix the issue. The issue has been resolved and we are taking measures to ensure this doesn't happen again."

Comcast also said it has processes in place to screen for age-appropriate advertisements, but some of the filters have not been properly set up. The company said the problem should be corrected, but the experience has affected how Squires now watches movies with her family.

"It's opened up a conversation and a dialogue with my children about what they see on TV," she said.

Squires told Ruth to the Rescue she is thankful that Comcast responded and that the issue appears to be resolved. She also said she's viewed several G-rated movies since the investigation and the R-rated commercials are now gone.

Entire statement from Comcast

"We are very sorry for the mistake that was made, and we regret that it took multiple calls and emails from our customer to fix the issue. The issue has been resolved, and we are taking measures to ensure this doesn't happen again. While our company has policies and processes in place for screening age-appropriate advertisements that run during On Demand programming, unfortunately some of the filters had not been properly set up.

We understand that when our customers sit their children down to enjoy an age-appropriate show, they don't want to worry about inappropriate commercials airing. As an example of our commitment to parental guidelines, we've just extended our partnership with Common Sense Media a step further by integrating their ratings and reviews directly onto the TV via our X1 Entertainment Operating System making it easier for parents to make safe, smart entertainment-related choices for their families."

Michelle Gilbert

Vice President, Comcast Cable, Heartland Region