New York, NY - September 13, 2004. The Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB) is pleased to announce that Nakajima USA has cooperated with CARU in connection with a commercial promoting Pirates of the Caribbean Water Slide. The spot, which aired during children's programming on Nickelodeon, raised concerns under CARU's Self-Regulatory Guidelines for Children's Advertising (the Guidelines).

The section of the Guidelines entitled "Safety" states, in part:

"3. Adults should be shown supervising children when products or activities could involve a safety risk."

The commercial featured young children playing on a backyard water slide. In CARU's opinion, there did not appear to be any clear depiction of adult supervision. Nor was there an audio disclosure regarding the necessity of adult supervision.

The media flight for the spot ended during CARU's inquiry. Nevertheless, Nakajima USA warranted that if it considers running the commercial again, it will 1) look to re-edit it and use additional footage that would prominently feature an adult and reinforce the concept of adult supervision, 2) add a voiceover stating: "Adult Supervision Required," and 3) submit the revised commercial to CARU prior to any scheduled air date.

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 at elascoutx@caru.bbb.org.

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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.