To celebrate its centennial and 100 years of fostering marketplace trust between businesses and consumers, Better Business Bureau executives and guests visited the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today to ring the closing bell.

Carrie A. Hurt, President and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, rang the closing bell to mark the organization’s 100-year anniversary. BBB was founded in 1912 as the Advertising Vigilance Committee by corporate executives who were fed up with deceptive advertising and fraudulent claims. Samuel Candler Dobbs, a vice president of Coca-Cola, drafted “The Ten Commandments of Advertising,” and dozens of corporations signed the manifesto. Later that year, the first local group was founded in Minneapolis.

Better Business Bureau’s name was suggested in 1916 by Arthur F. Sheldon, the founder of a school on salesmanship, and the organization continued to grow. The first national office opened in 1921 in Cleveland, Ohio, and the first Canadian BBB opened in 1928 in Montreal. The organization today has 115 local, independent BBBs across the United States and Canada that maintainBBB Business Reviews on more than four million businesses, handle dispute resolution for nearly one million complaints a year, and alert consumers of marketplace issues.

For a century, BBB has fostered trust and integrity by: helping consumers make smarter buying decisions; resolving disputes between consumers and businesses; and educating the public on scams and fraud.

370,000 BBB Accredited Businesses are committed to following the organization’s strict Code of Business Practices, which includes guidelines on ethics, customer service, transparency, financial management, advertising and privacy. They also must maintain at least a “B” rating in order to remain accredited. The support of these businesses enables BBB to offer many of its services to consumers for free.

For local programs and services, check with BBB serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington at akorww.bbb.org.