Online Privacy Policy

Updated December 2004
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Mattel, Inc. and its family of companies ("Mattel") are committed to protecting your online privacy when visiting a website operated by us.We do not collect and keep any personal information online from you unless you volunteer it and you are 13 or older. We also do not collect and keep personal information online from children under the age of 13 without consent of a parent or legal guardian, except in limited circumstances authorized by law and described in this policy. Please review the information below to familiarize yourself with our policies on website privacy, so that you can take full advantage of all the fun activities available at our sites for you and your family. Please remember that this site and the servers that make this site available are located in the U.S. By using this site you agree to the transfer, collection, processing and use of data by this site.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR PARENTS AND LEGAL GUARDIANS:

Mattel adheres to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 and the guidelines of the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. in each of our websites for children. You can help by spending time online with your children and monitoring your children's online use. Please help us protect your child's privacy by instructing them never to provide personal information on this site or any other without your permission.

If you are under 18, please be sure to read this policy with your parents or legal guardians and ask questions about things you do not understand. Children under 13 should get your parent's or legal guardian's permission before giving out your e-mail address or any personal information to Mattel or to anyone else on the Internet.

1. Does Mattel Collect Any Personal Information About Me If I'm 13 Or Older?

Mattel doesn't require anyone to share any personal information about themselves in order to enjoy any of our websites. That means you can visit our sites without any need to register with us. However, most of our sites contain special sections and privileges for members that register. We do not collect any personal information from you or your teenager unless it is voluntarily provided, for instance when signing a guest book, registering for contests, downloads, or free demos, completing our online customer surveys or purchasing products. The personal information we ask for is usually first and last name, mailing address, phone number and an e-mail address. See below for how we use this information. Remember, only people who are 18 or older may purchase products from our online stores.

2. What Ordering Information Does Mattel Collect In Our Online Stores?

We may offer opportunities to purchase products in our online stores. Customers must be over the age of 18 with a valid credit card. Visitors under 18 can use the Wish List function while browsing our online stores but cannot make purchases. When a customer places an order or requests a catalogue online, we collect information associated with the transaction, which will include the customer's name, mailing address, products ordered, shipping address, and credit card information. We ask for this information so that we may fulfill the order or catalogue request. We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to protect credit card data during transmission to our website, and adopt careful internal procedures to safeguard this information in our system.

Customers have the option of registering certain information for future orders while completing their online order. For the customers who choose to register, we will capture their login name, password, name and mailing address, alternate ship-to addresses, and credit card information. When registered customers return to the site to place subsequent orders, they can identify themselves with their login name and password. If a customer includes a child's birth date and e-mail address, this information will only be used to help us provide products and services that meet customer needs.

When a customer places an order online, we will send a confirming e-mail message. We may also send an occasional e-mail featuring a special promotion or product that may be of interest to customers. Any customer who prefers not to receive an online order confirmation or promotional e-mail should indicate this preference on the online store order form. If you do receive an e-mail from us that you would rather not receive, simply follow the "unsubscribe" instructions included in the e-mail.

3. Does Mattel Collect Any Personal Information About Anyone Under 13?

We do not collect personal information online from children under 13 without consent of a parent or legal guardian except in special, limited circumstances. If your child is under 13 and wants to use our sites with special activities, like scavenger hunts, personalized pages, games or clubs, we might ask your child to "register." They can often do so anonymously by just providing a user name and password, but sometimes we need their first name and e-mail address. When we ask for your child's first name, your child is encouraged to use a "screen name" (not their real name) that only they know. Sometimes we will ask your child to make up a special password so that only they can see their customized areas on the site. With your verifiable consent, we may collect personal information from your child such as a last name, address or e-mail address when the information is necessary for a particular activity. If we need more than just your child's first name (or screen name) and e-mail address for your child to participate in a particular online activity, we will ask your child for your e-mail or mailing address so that we can notify you of your child's request and get your permission. When we ask for your permission, we will tell you what we will do with the information you or your child provides us, and we will tell you how you can review your child's information and ask us to delete the information. We don't keep your (or your child's) e-mail address unless you tell us it is okay.

Mattel might collect an e-mail address and first name (or screen name) from your child under 13 without your consent, but only in the following special cases:

• If a child under 13 sends a request to us, we keep their e-mail address for long enough to respond to them. Mattel deletes this information from our system after we answer their question.
  
  
• If a child under 13 signs up for an e-mail newsletter, or other activity that requires multiple online contact with the child, we also ask the child for a parent's or legal guardian's e-mail address so we can notify you and give you an opportunity to opt out.
  
  
• Occasionally, Mattel has special site activities or promotions like sweepstakes or contests that are open to children even if they are under 13. In these activities, we are not allowed to ask for more information from your child than what is necessary for your child to participate in the activity.

In the latter situation we require your child to give us your e-mail address, too, so that we can tell you that they have registered in a promotion or for a service. If we need more than an e-mail address and first name (or screen name) to enter your child in the promotion or offer the service, we will notify you, explain what information we need and why, and generally ask that you (not your child) provide it. For instance, we might ask you for your mailing address so that we can send to you, for your child, any prizes your child wins, or for your telephone number so that we can tell you when your child has won. Any information you or your child give us in the above special circumstances will be deleted from our database once the promotion, program or activity is concluded, and after any legally required period for keeping such information is complete. We do not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in a contest, game or other activity as a condition of participation. If you no longer wish your child to participate in an e-mail newsletter, simply click on the link that is provided for removal or contact us at Service@mattel.com. Upon proper identification, parents or legal guardians may review the personal information we have collected about their child, request deletion, or refuse to allow further collection or use of the information. Click here to print a copy of our Personal Information Review Access Request, fill it out completely and mail it to:

Personal Information Review Access Request

Mattel, Inc.
International & Regulatory Affairs
333 Continental Boulevard
M1-1202
El Segundo, CA 90245

However, if you ask us to delete your child's information, we may have to ask your child not to participate in our activities.

4. What Does Mattel Do With The Information We Collect?

We use the personal information we collect for the purposes indicated at the time you or your teenager or child (with your consent) provides such information. For instance, if you register in a contest, we will use the registration information to notify contest winners, or if you purchase a product, we will use the information to fulfill the order. Occasionally, and only with consent at the time we ask for information, we might also e-mail or mail you or your teenager or your child to provide information on upcoming Mattel products, website updates and promotions. With your consent, we may also share information with other Mattel brands and Mattel family companies so that they can let you and your family know about products that might be of interest. If you want to stop receiving such updates and product information at any time, just contact us at Service@mattel.com or call us at 800-524-TOYS. Our mailings and e-mail will also include information allowing you to ask not to receive such information in the future.

5. Does Mattel Share Information About Me With Others?

If you consent, Mattel may provide your information to outside companies that offer products or services that may be of interest, and if your teenager 13 or older consents, we may likewise provide their information. Except as described in this policy, we never share personal information that we receive online from children under 13 with other companies outside Mattel. We will remove your name from the list we provide to outside companies if you contact us at Service@mattel.com or call us at 800-524-TOYS, and we will do the same for your teenager's name if they request removal. In special circumstances, Mattel may give other companies access to our information database, but only if necessary to allow them to provide database or server maintenance or security, help us process and fulfill orders or requests, or provide other similar services to Mattel. If we do provide access, we require those other companies to sign confidentiality agreements promising to keep secret any information they see. If Mattel believes that anyone's behavior on our sites may damage us or our sites or anyone else, we may disclose the relevant personal information in order to prevent this harm. In that case, we might try to identify the wrongdoer, contact them or bring legal action against them. We may also disclose personal information if we believe that the disclosure is required by law, or in response to a legal request.

6. How Does Mattel Use Cookies?

A "cookie" is a small file that we save on your computer's hard drive that contains non-personal information. Our cookies help to give you faster access to pages you have already visited; they allow you to personalize your pages and us to customize our offerings; and they help you to participate in some activities or events on the site. For instance, some of our sites have scavenger or treasure hunts, and we need to use cookies to keep track of your progress. If you leave the site and then return, cookies will tell us what things you have already collected so that you do not have to start all over again. Cookies keep track of items in your shopping cart and wish list in our online stores. We also use cookies to help us figure out how many people visit our sites, which of our Web pages they stop at and how long they stay there. This information helps us figure out which of our Web features are successes and what sites might need improvement. For administrative purposes, we collect IP addresses, which is the automatic number assigned to your computer when you surf the Web. Certain Internet Service Providers may assign the same IP address to many users. The IP address allows us to count the total number of "hits" on our sites. However, your IP address and cookie are not connected to any personally identifiable or online contact information like a name and address, so you and your family remain anonymous. We also use other technology, called clear GIFs, to provide us with other important anonymous information, such as when an e-mail has been opened.

7. Does Mattel Ever Collect Information Without Consent?

Mattel does not collect information passively through cookies or other tracking mechanisms except in the circumstances described above. Cookies DON'T contain any personal information about a specific user. We don't use cookies or other non-consensual methods to take personally identifiable or online contact information about you or your family off of your computer. Except for certain activities like treasure hunts, which we talked about above, Mattel doesn't use cookies for direct marketing or promotional purposes. Cookies are also not used to collect information specifically about you or your family for sharing with third parties.

8. Do Mattel's Third-Party Advertisers Use Cookies?

In the course of serving advertisements to this site, our third-party advertisers may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser.

And finally ...

We want you and your family to have fun surfing all our sites and urge you and your family to follow common sense whenever disclosing personal information - on this site or anywhere on the Internet.

Thanks for reading our privacy policy. We hope you have a better understanding of the many activities offered on our websites and the ways in which we really are committed to safeguarding online privacy. Remember, we may change our policy from time to time. When this happens we will notify you of the new policy by posting it on our sites.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us!

Mattel, Inc.
Consumer Relations
636 Girard Avenue
East Aurora, NY 14052
In the U.S.: 800-524-TOYS (800-524-8697)
In Canada: 800-665-6288

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