New York, NY - December 5, 2003 - The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) is pleased to announce that The KFC Corporation ((KFC) has cooperated with CARU in connection with two commercials that promoted nutritional benefits of KFC fried chicken. The two spots, which aired during children's programming on Cartoon Network, raised concerns under CARU"s Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising (Guidelines).

One spot promoted the fact that a KFC chicken breast "has just 11 grams of carbs and packs 40 grams of protein." The second claimed, in part, that two KFC chicken breasts have less fat than a Burger King Whopper. Both commercials contained the following tagline: "For a fresh way to eat better, you gotta KFC What's Cookin'."

While both spots contained supers such as "Not a low sodium, low cholesterol food," from CARU's perspective these types of disclosures did not appear to be sufficient when the commercials, overall, seemed to convey the impression that KFC fried chicken is healthful food. Taking into consideration the levels of certain nutritional components such as sodium and cholesterol-2 KFC chicken breasts contain 96% of the recommended daily value (and they contain much higher levels of sodium and cholesterol than a Whopper), CARU found that the commercials could very well leave children with the wrong net impression about the overall nutritional qualities of KFC fried chicken.

KFC informed CARU that it never intended to run the spots during children's programming. While KFC disagreed with CARU's concerns, it promptly took steps to remove the commercials from all children's programming. KFC further informed CARU that the spots stopped running during such programming approximately 10 days after it had been contacted by CARU. Finally, KFC stated that it stopped airing the commercials altogether roughly one week later and that it has no plans to run these commercials in the future.

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.