New York, N.Y. October 11, 2001 - The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. is pleased to announce that Trendmasters, Inc. has made changes to its official Website, www.trendmasters.com to protect the online safety of children, in compliance with CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising. While the Website contains product information and promotional offers for various Trendmasters products, the current focus on this Website, especially on the home page, is the Rumble Robots toy. The Website also offers a club and a message board exclusive to fans of Rumble Robots.

While reviewing the Website CARU found activities which collected extensive information from visitors, or allowed the disclosure of personal information, without first identifying the age of such visitors and obtaining requisite parental consent from visitors under thirteen years of age. In response to CARU's concerns, Trendmasters has implemented effective age screening, has made links to the privacy policy more prominent, and has included a parental consent mechanism for parents of child registrants.

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.

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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.