New York, N.Y. October 5, 2001- The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. is pleased to announce that the H.J. Heinz Company has modified its Website, www.bagelbites. com, to protect the online privacy of children under 13 years of age. Heinz has implemented an effective age screening process and is requiring informed parental permission before allowing children under age 13 to disclose personal information.

Heinz's Bagel Bites are a popular frozen snack food. CARU discovered this Website through its routine patrolling of the Internet after having seen a televised advertisement for Bagel Bites, which was broadcast during children's programming. The television advertising and Website feature the skate boarding celebrity, Tony Hawk, who appeals to the tween and teen audience. CARU observed that the Website was collecting personally identifiable information from underage visitors without the age screening and parental notice and consent required by CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising.

CARU commends H.J. Heinz for the modifications it has made to its Bagel Bites Website.

CARU's inquiry was conducted under NAD/NARB/CARU Procedures for Voluntary Self-Regulation of National Advertising. Details of the inquiry, CARU's decision and the advertiser's response will be included in the next NAD/CARU Case Report. Members of the press who wish to see a copy of the decision now should email CARU.

###

The National Advertising Review Council (NARC) was formed in 1971 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Inc. (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation, Inc. (AAF), and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB). Its purpose is to foster truth and accuracy in national advertising through voluntary self-regulation. NARC is the body that establishes the policies and procedures for the CBBB's National Advertising Division (NAD), The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU), and the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).

NAD and CARU are the investigative arms of the advertising industry's voluntary self-regulation program. Their casework results from competitive challenges from other advertisers, and also from self-monitoring traditional and new media, including the Internet. The National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appeals body, is a peer group from which ad-hoc panels are selected to adjudicate those cases that are not resolved at the NAD/CARU level. This unique, self-regulatory system is funded entirely by the business community; CARU is financed by the children's advertising industry, while NAD/NARB's sole source of funding is derived from membership fees paid to the Council of Better Business Bureaus.