Sponsored Link:

Monday, September 24th, 2007

Mattel Releases Huge Mea Culpa in Chinese Toy Recall

By Jason Simpkins
Staff Writer

Mattel Inc. (MAT) issued an apology to China, Friday, taking the blame for recent product recalls which the toy company admits were design oriented. Mattel also said it recalled more lead-tainted toys than justified, according to an article by The Associated Press.

Mattel’s executive vice president for worldwide operations, Thomas Debrowski, apologized to Li Changjiang on behalf of the company in a meeting that was open to the media.

"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls," Debrowski said, "and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys."

There were three separate recalls this summer, involving more than 21 million Chinese-made toys.

The recalls came at a time when China was particularly vulnerable to matters of product safety. Concerns were personalized in August, when the co-owner of the company that supplied the lead-tainted toys to Mattel committed suicide by hanging himself.

The high-profile nature of the recalls sparked outrage in China, which viewed the negative publicity by the U.S. media as an attempt to sabotage Chinese exports. Mattel does a lot of business in China so this deep wound needed treating. The world’s largest toy maker, Mattel has been in China for 25 years. Approximately 65% of its toys are made there.

China manufactures more than 80% of toys sold in the United States. The value of Chinese toy exports is approximately $7.5 billion.

Two Canadian business professors, Paul Beamish and Hari Bapuji, released a report earlier this month which found that flaws in design are the most common reason for toy recalls. Approximately 76% of the 550 U.S. toy recalls since 1988 can be attributed to design flaws.

News and Related Story Links:


Mathematical Concept Used by Gov’t Code Breakers Can Predict the Market’s Movement...

The CIA uses it to crack codes. The government uses it for technological superiority. The B-2 bomber couldn’t fly without it. And for those that know how, it can be used to “speak the language” of the market.

But cutting through the “noise” and seeing through to the underlying hidden order of the markets, this strategy can be used to predict the movement of any investment - to the penny - with 95% accuracy.

And now for the first time, this strategy is being offered to a few investors as a reliable, emotion free guide to avoiding losses and making big money in these turbulent markets. See if you qualify, here.




This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 2:42 pm and is filed under China, Home Page, Recall. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Due to the amount of comments we receive Money Morning will not be able to respond to all questions. If you have not already registered to leave a comment, once doing so you will receive Money Morning's Daily Email. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.