A senior executive of Mattel, the world's largest toymaker,
apologized on Friday for damaging China's reputation after the
company's recent massive recalls of made-in-China toys, admitting
that most of the items were defective because of design instead of
manufacturing flaws.
The gesture by Thomas Debrowski, Mattel's executive
vice-president for worldwide operations, came in a meeting in
Beijing with China's top quality control official Li
Changjiang.
"Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls,"
Debrowski told Li, adding that he also realized that damage had
been done to the reputation of Chinese goods.
"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and
apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our
customers," he said.
Mattel ordered three high-profile recalls in the past five weeks
of about 21 million Chinese-made toys including Barbie doll
accessories and toy cars because of concerns about lead paint and
tiny magnets that could be swallowed.
"But it's important for everyone to understand that the vast
majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a
flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in
Chinese manufacturers," Debrowski said.
A Mattel statement released after the meeting suggested that
17.4 million toys had been recalled because of loose magnets - a
design flaw - and those recalled because of impermissible levels of
lead numbered 2.2 million.
A research paper recently released by two Canadian business
professors also showed that about 80 percent of the 550 toy recalls
in the United States in recent years were because of design faults
instead of manufacturing defects.
"Certainly, some of the problems were made in China, but our
analysis on at least toy recalls suggests that the majority of the
problems originated on the other side," CanWest News Service quoted
University of Western Ontario business professor and report
co-author Paul Beamish as saying.
"If we're going to point fingers, point them in the right
direction."
Mattel also admitted in the statement that it had recalled more
lead-tainted Chinese toys than was justified.
"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 US standards," it said.
"The follow-up inspections also confirmed that part of the
recalled toys complied with the US standards."
Li said he appreciated Mattel's objective and responsible
attitude toward the recalls and its sincere attitude toward future
development in China.
He said although Chinese manufacturers did not share the major
responsibility, the government has still put toy safety high on
agenda.
He revealed that more than 300 toy exporters had been banned
from operating in a recent crackdown on unsafe toys. Four Chinese
who were suspected of supplying fake paint to a Mattel contract toy
factory in China are being held in criminal custody.
(China Daily September 23, 2007)