General Mills Privacy Policy
Effective Date: May 2018
General Mills is proud to market some of the world's most trusted brands. We know that maintaining your trust requires that we protect your privacy – so we are very sensitive to the privacy concerns of those who use our websites, our pages and applications on third-party social networking services, our emails, and our mobile applications (collectively, with all other platforms that link to this policy, our “Services”).
This Privacy Policy explains our information practices and the choices that you, as a user of our Services, can make about the collection, use, and dissemination of your information.
Information We Collect
We may collect information about you (and the device you use to access our Services) in a variety of ways:
- You may directly provide information to us
- You may choose to allow a third party, such as a social networking service, to share information with us
- We may gather other information when you use or access our Services, or when you view our online advertisements
- We may obtain additional information about you from other sources where permitted by law
If we are unable to collect information relating to you, we may be unable to provide you with the goods or services you request. More detail on each of these methods of collection is immediately below.
Information you directly provide
When you access and use our Services or otherwise communicate with us, you may directly provide us with information, including (but not limited to) the following:
- Contact Information (such as name, email address, mailing address, telephone number and the like)
- Username or password
- Demographic information (such as age or date of birth, gender, marital status, number of children, or other characteristics)
- Credit card or other payment information
- Contact details of family members or others
- Any other information that you choose to provide us about you, your family, or others
- Any other information that we may require from time to time in order to provide you with our Services, including information that may be considered sensitive personal information under applicable data protection laws.
Information from social networking services
If you choose to access or make use of third-party social networking services (such as Facebook or Twitter), we may receive personal information about you that you have made available to those services, including information about your contacts on those services.
For example, some social networking services allow you to push content from our Services to your contacts or to pull information about your contacts so you can connect with them on our Services. Some social networking services will also facilitate your registration or log-in for our Services or enhance or personalize your experience on our Services.
Your decision to use a social networking service will always be voluntary. However, you should make sure you are comfortable with the information social networking services may make available to our Services by visiting those services’ privacy policies.
Information we gather when you access or use our Services, or when you view our online advertisements
When you access or use our Services, or when you view our online advertisements, we may use cookies, web beacons, or other technologies to collect information about your computer or device and your online activity. The following are examples of the types of information we may collect in this way:
- Device type (such as desktop, tablet, or mobile device)
- Browser type (such as Internet Explorer)
- Operating system (such as Windows)
- IP address, MAC address, device ID, or similar information
- Websites or online services you visit before or after our Services
- Your interaction with our Services (such as the links you click on and the pages and items you view)
- Whether you open or forward our emails or click on elements within these emails
Information we may obtain from other sources
We may collect information about you from other sources, where permitted by law, such as public databases, other brands and groups within General Mills, and other commercially available sources. We may also collect information about you from third parties we engage to provide services to you on our behalf, including (but not limited to) third parties handling consumer support inquiries or marketing.
This information may include:
- Contact Information (e.g., name, email address, mailing address, telephone number)
- Social networking user IDs
- Age or date of birth
- Gender
- Demographic information
- Income level
- Purchasing behaviour
- Interests, hobbies, and product preferences
- Interactions with media or advertising
- Publicly observable activities (such as blogs and online postings)
- Other information that has been collected by other brands or businesses within the General Mills family of companies
- Other information that we may use to improve our marketing activities.
Some of this information may be considered sensitive under applicable data protection laws. Please note that parts or all the information we collect or obtain may be combined or linked (by us or by third parties providing services to us) for any of the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including to help us customize how we communicate with you and to improve our products, services, and marketing efforts.
How We Use This Information
We may collect, hold, and use personal information for the purposes listed below (unless otherwise required by law):
By way of example, some specific ways that we may use this information are as follows:
We will not send you any email marketing communication unless you expressly consent to receive such a communication from us. And if you do sign up to receive these emails, you will always have the opportunity to “unsubscribe” from further email marketing messages from that General Mills brand or group.
How We Retain Information
We hold the information we collect in electronic and/or paper form. We retain information for as long as it is reasonably needed for the purpose for which it was collected, or for so long as there is a need to preserve it for legal reasons. We delete information as soon as reasonably practical after a valid deletion request or the end of the period just described, whichever is sooner.
How We Use Cookies, Web Beacons, And Similar Technologies
We (and third parties that provide content, advertising, or functionality on our Services) may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to facilitate website administration and navigation; to better understand and improve our Services; to determine and improve the advertising shown to you here or elsewhere; and to provide you with a rich online experience.
We provide more details about these technologies below.
General descriptions of “cookies” and “web beacons”
“Cookies” are small files that are placed on your computer or device when you visit a website. Cookies may be used to store a unique identification number tied to your computer or device so that you can be recognized as the same user across one or more browsing sessions, and across one or more sites.
Some cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around our Services and use its features, such as accessing secured areas. Other cookies collect information about how visitors use the Services (for instance, which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages). When combined with information collected when you register on a website, cookies allow us to welcome you back to the site or otherwise provide enhanced, more personal features. Cookies may also be used on our behalf by third parties managing our advertising on other websites to enable us to learn which advertisements bring visitors to our sites and to otherwise improve or target our online advertising.
Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but can be configured not to do so or to notify the user when a cookie is being sent. If you wish to disable cookies, refer to your browser help menu to learn how to disable cookies. Please note that if you disable cookies, you may be unable to access some customized features on our Services.
“Web beacons” and similar technologies are tiny or transparent images that, for example, allow us and third parties to count the number of users who have visited a particular web page or to access certain cookies. When you access a page containing a beacon, you establish a communication with a web server, which collects certain information about your computer or device. This information may include your IP address, browser type, operating system type, and identifiers that have been stored in cookies. We may use beacons on Services to count the number of visitors to our Services and to recognize users by accessing unique identifiers stored in cookies that we have set on their computers or devices. Being able to access these identifiers enables us to provide a personalized experience on our Services. We may also include beacons in advertisements or in email messages to determine how these are acted on.
Cookies for online behavioural advertising
Third parties who are involved in serving other companies’ advertising on our Services, or who are involved in determining which advertisements to show you on third-party websites, may use cookies to collect information about your online activities, such as the advertisements you have seen or the websites or pages you have visited, in order to draw inferences about what advertising might be relevant to you.
These third parties may use the information gathered through these cookies to show you advertising they believe to be most relevant to you when you visit other websites not belonging to us. This practice is called “targeted advertising.” or “online behavioural advertising.”
For additional information on the types of cookies we use, please click here.
Other uses of local storage and unique identifiers
We (and the third parties who provide content, advertising, or functionality on our Services) may also use other kinds of local storage technologies that operate similarly to cookies, such as local shared objects (also known as “Flash cookies”) and HTML5 local storage. These technologies are similar to cookies in that they make use of storage on your device for the purpose of identifying the device across different services and sessions. Please note, however, that these technologies may make use of different parts of your device than cookies do, and so you might not be able to control them using standard browser tools and settings. For information about disabling or deleting information contained in Flash cookies, please click here.
In addition, depending on the browser or device you use, we (and the third parties who provide content, advertising or functionality on our Services) may receive an identifier for your browser or device that can be used for purposes similar to those for which we and others use cookies and beacons. The identifiers are not created by the services you access, but rather by the companies that make the software that runs your device or browser. For example, if you access our Services using your iPhone, we may receive a temporary device identifier called the “Identifier for Advertisers” (or “IDFA”). In your iPhone’s privacy settings, you can “reset” this identifier, which means that a different identifier will be sent the next time you visit our Services.
How We May Share Information With Others
We may share the information we collect with the following types of entities in connection with the purposes listed above, including those which may be located in the United States or other countries outside your country of residence:
Affiliates. We may share information within General Mills among our various businesses, and within our family of affiliated companies.
Service Providers, Advisers, and Consultants. We may share information with third parties that provide services on our behalf and third parties that provide services to us. These parties may use the information solely in conjunction with the specific services they provide for us or to us. Some service providers may be involved in administering or, where allowed by law, supplementing our databases.
Other Parties When Required by Law or as Necessary to Protect Our Users and Services. We also may disclose information to third parties in order to:
- protect our legal rights, as well as the rights of the users of our Services or others;
- protect the safety and security of the Services, our users, or others;
- investigate violations of law and to prevent fraud; or
- comply with the law in any of the jurisdictions in which we do business, or if we are compelled to release information by a court of law or other person or entity with jurisdiction to compel production of such information, asked to respond to legal process or a request for co-operation by a government entity, whether or not legally required (depending on local law).
Other Parties in Connection with a Corporate Transaction. We reserve the right to disclose any information we have about you in the event that we sell, merge, or otherwise transfer all or a portion of our business or assets to a third party (or offer to do so), or in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy or similar event. Outside this context, we will not sell any lists of consumer contact information to unaffiliated companies for their marketing purposes.
Otherwise with Your Consent or as Permitted by Law. In addition to the sharing described or permitted by this Privacy Policy, we may share information about you with third parties whenever you consent to such sharing, or as permitted by law.
Third Parties Who Provide Content, Advertising, Or Functionality On Our Services
Some of the content, advertising, and functionality on our Services may be provided by third parties who are not affiliated with us. For example:
- Certain third parties may serve advertising or keep track of which advertisements users see, how often they see those advertisements, and what users do in response to them. These third parties may use cookies, web beacons, or similar technologies to provide these services.
- We may enable you to share certain materials on the Services with others through social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter.
These third parties may collect or receive certain information about your use of our Services, including through the use of cookies, beacons, and similar technologies, and this information may be collected over time and combined with information collected across different websites and online services, where permitted by law.
One of the third parties that provides services to us is Google Inc. Like many websites, we use Google Analytics, a service that provides information about how many users visit our Services, when they visit, and how they navigate our Services. Google offers a browser add-on that enables users to opt out of having data about their visits reported to websites by Google Analytics. More information about the add-on is here.
International Transfer Of Data
We may collect, transfer, store, process, and/or disclose your information outside your country of residence, consistent with this Privacy Policy and with applicable law (for example, the legal basis for transfers of information may stem from standard contract clauses or consent). A copy of transfer contracts may be obtained by contacting us.
As mentioned above, we may also disclose your personal information to recipients located outside your country of residence, consistent with this Privacy Policy. These recipients may be located in countries such as the United States. Please note that the data protection and other laws of countries to which your information may be transferred might not be as comprehensive as those in your country.
Safeguarding Information
We are committed to keeping your interactions on our Services safe and secure. We have implemented administrative, technical, and physical measures intended to safeguard personal information in our custody and control against theft, loss, and unauthorized access, use, modification, and disclosure. Please note, however, that we cannot absolutely guarantee the security of any information you provide online; you provide it at your own risk.
Links To Other Services
Our Services may contain links to the sites of our affiliates, and to sites that are owned and operated by third parties. These other sites may have their own privacy policies and are not be governed by this Privacy Policy. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of sites owned and operated by third parties. Other sites may collect and treat information collected differently, so we encourage you to carefully read and review the privacy policy for each site you visit.
User-Generated Content And Public Profile Features
Our Services may, from time to time, contain interactive areas where Services users might submit comments or other content (including information about the user that might be displayed in the user’s public profile within an online community) that may be visible to others. Users should be aware that when they voluntarily disclose personal information in content submitted for posting or publication, the information can be read and used by others. This may result in unsolicited messages from other posters or parties. We make no representations and undertake no obligations as to the security or use of information you voluntarily include when submitting content.
Send-To-A-Friend Tools
Our Services may, from time to time, include a send-to-a-friend application that makes it easy for you to forward information or materials from our Services to friends or family by email. In order to address your email message, the application may ask you to input the recipient’s email address and/or similar information (including your email address). This information is used by the application to address your message so that it can be properly sent. We may temporarily maintain a log of this information for troubleshooting and fraud-prevention purposes. In the event that we are offering you some form of referral award for encouraging an action on the part of the recipient (for example, if you are to earn a reward if the recipient chooses to register for one of our offerings after receiving the email from you), we may also retain the information as necessary to establish that the referral award was earned.
Children's Privacy
Our Services are not directed to children as defined by applicable law, and we will not knowingly request any information from children. General Mills does have other services that are geared in whole or in part to a child audience, and the practices that apply to those services are described in the privacy policies that apply to those services. General Mills takes special care to protect the privacy of children. We also recommend that parents monitor their children’s Internet activities and learn and employ software or other tools that can help their children enjoy the fun and entertainment of an online experience without compromising their personal safety or allowing them to use the Internet in a manner inconsistent with their parents’ preferences.
Anonymity And Pseudonyms
Where feasible, you may have the option of not identifying yourself or using a pseudonym when dealing with us unless we are required by law or a court/tribunal to deal with individuals who have identified themselves, or it is impractical for us to deal with you if you have not identified yourself.
Changes To Our Privacy Policy
We may change or replace this Privacy Policy at our sole discretion at any time. Please check back from time to time to ensure that you are aware of any updates or changes in this Privacy Policy. Your continued use of, or access to, our Services, as well as our handling of your information more generally, will be subject to the version of the Privacy Policy that is in force at the time of that use, access, or handling.
How To Make A Complaint About A Breach Of Your Privacy Rights
If you think we have breached our privacy obligations in dealing with your personal information, you may make a complaint by writing to us using the contact details set out below and we will endeavour to provide you with confirmation as to how we propose to deal with the complaint as soon as reasonably practicable. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, then you may make a complaint to the relevant privacy regulatory body in your country of residence.
In addition to your right to be informed about our data practices, you have the right to request access to information we specifically hold about you and request that we rectify inaccuracies in that information (subject to certain exceptions under applicable law). Depending on applicable law, you may also have the right to erasure, the right to restrict processing and withdraw your consent to future processing, the right to data portability, and the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests, for purposes of scientific/historical research, or direct marketing. If you would like to make a request pursuant to these rights, please contact our customer service department via the contact information provided below.
We may require you to verify your identity and specify what information you require before completing a request. There may be occasions when a request to access, obtain, modify or prevent the use of personal information we hold about you is denied. Such occasions would include, for example, where access to the information would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others.
How To Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or about our collection, holding use or disclosure of your personal information, or if you would like to make a complaint in relation to your privacy, please Contact Us.
You may also reach us by telephone at (305) 591-1771 or by physical mail at:
General Mills of Latin America
8400 NW 36 Street, Suite 310
Miami, FL 33166
Cookie Notice
We use different types of cookies to run our Services, including some or all the types identified below.
Preference Cookies
Preferences cookies allow our Services to remember information, such your preferred language, that can be used to customize your experience on our Services. These cookies also can be used to provide you with information specific to your region, and may assist you in customizing our Services’ appearance. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, our Services may become less functional but should not be prevented from working.
Security Cookies
Security cookies are used to authenticate users, prevent fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect user data from unauthorized access. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, our Services will not function properly.
Process Cookies
Process cookies help our Services deliver the functionality that you expect, such as by enabling you to access secure areas of our Services. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, our Services will not function properly.
Advertising Cookies
Advertising cookies are used by parties that are involved in serving other companies’ advertising on our sites, or that are involved in determining which of our advertisements (or other parties’ advertisements) to show you on third-party websites. These cookies collect information about your online activities, such as the advertisements you have seen or the websites or pages you have visited, in order to draw inferences about what advertising might be relevant to you. This information is then used to show you advertising that may be most relevant to you, including when you visit other websites not belonging to us. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, our Services may become less functional, but should not be prevented from working.
Session State Cookies
These cookies allow our Services to collect information about how you interact with our Services, including which pages you visit most often and if certain pages send you error messages. These cookies help us improve our services. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, our Services may become less functional, but should not be prevented from working.
Analytics Cookies
Analytics cookies collect information about the usage of our Services. We use these cookies to improve our Services by, for example, learning about the pages people visit most frequently. If these cookies are blocked or disabled, our Services should not be prevented from working.
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