my favorite Mattel toy as a kid....and we use to play cowboys and indians and yell “I’m gonna fill ya full of lead....”
nothing changes.
Posted on 09/21/2007 5:10:49 AM PDT by indcons
The world's largest toy maker, Mattel Inc, apologized on Friday for damaging China's reputation after recent massive recalls of its Chinese-made toys, admitting it targeted some goods that were actually up to scratch.
Mattel has come under scrutiny following the recall of about 21 million of the toys in a span of five weeks, many because of excessive levels of lead paint.
"Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls," Thomas Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president of worldwide operations, told China's quality watchdog chief, Li Changjiang, in the Chinese capital.
"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys."
Debrowski said he realized the damage that had been done to the reputation of Chinese goods, adding the company was committed to manufacturing in China.
"But it's important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers."
The company added in a statement that too many toys had been recalled, although it said that was because it puts safety first.
"Mattel is committed to applying the highest standards of safety for its products. Consistent with this, Mattel's lead-related recalls were overly inclusive, including toys that may not have had lead in paint in excess of U.S. standards," it said.
"The follow-up inspections also confirmed that part of the recalled toys complied with the U.S. standards," it added.
Debrowski, who sat stony-faced throughout the meeting with Li, did not talk afterwards to reporters, whom the quality regulator had invited to witness most of the meeting, unusual for a normally secretive Chinese government agency.
Li told Debrowski of his displeasure at the admission that perhaps too many toys had been targeted.
"You cannot recall 10,000 products just because one is substandard. This is unacceptable," he said.
But Li also struck a conciliatory tone with the company, which directly and indirectly employs thousands of Chinese.
"I appreciate your objective and responsible attitude towards the recalls and your sincere attitude towards our future cooperation," Li said.
Before the Mattel recalls, a spate of incidents involving unsafe Chinese products ranging from toys and seafood to toothpaste that entered both EU and U.S. markets prompted calls on both sides of the Atlantic for a ban on products "made in China."
Mattel CEO Robert Eckert this week defended his company's toy safety record as two skeptical Democratic lawmakers accused him of stonewalling a congressional probe into production practices in China.
I hope the market responds to Mattel's shameful behavior accordingly in the upcoming holiday seasons.
Mattel
M - Manufactured
A - Asian
T - Toddler
T - Toys
E - Excessive
L - Lead
Grovelling before his Chinese master, slinking away like a whipped dog.
Best answer to this is to stop buying Matel products and the ones you have......mail them back to them.
Wassamatta Mattel, cant find cheap labor elsewhere in the Pacific Rim....Look around.
They realized they can’t get labor any cheaper than the chinese so they go groveling back. Makes sense if your only worried about the bottom line and don’t think about customers impact.
Watch their stock drop after the new year when (hopefully) the masses avoid their toys this Christmas season.
Unfortunately there will still be the buffoons out there getting the latest version of the Elmo doll...
my favorite Mattel toy as a kid....and we use to play cowboys and indians and yell “I’m gonna fill ya full of lead....”
nothing changes.
Mattel deserves to go bankrupt after this debacle. When they finally admitted that some toys are testing lead levels 180 times the allowable level, that should have been the last straw for consumers. Shame on this greedy bunch of rip-off artists, who valued Chinese slave labor over the health of American children.
You can tell it’s Mattel....it’s swell!! (like hell!) :0 )
Keep on truckling if you want to keep your cheap labor — and your FDI, Mattel!
I had two six shooters and a leather holster.
I was tough.
Debrowski best not visit China again or they will execute him for shaming the Chinese.
If you really want to apologize Matel, then maybe you should bring back the manufacturing to the US, bite the bullet on that extra $0.02 per product and slap big ‘ole “MADE IN THE USA” labels all over the toys. At that point, I’d consider buying your produts again. With an 11 month old son, I’m sure as ish not buying anything MATEL at this point until this happens.
Thank you for trying to kill our children with your lead paint. It’d be like someone coming up and hitting you in the face, O I’m sorry you hit me.
I had the 2 fanner fifties and the rolling block rifle to go with it with ‘shootin’ shells and greenie stickum caps.
I’d say look south. Might solve more than one problem.
My guess is that even Mexico couldn’t compete with the consumer friendly “wages” being offered in China.
Yes our lead paint hysteria should trump Mattel's understanding of the true lead paint problem. /s
The vast majority of lead poisoning cases were/are incurred during the remodeling of structures with lead paint coverings. The dust is the problem. Nanny state mentality gathered up all things lead and banned them from home use. For the children...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.