More Crappy Chinese Toys Recalled By Mattel

The cost of giving your offshore manufacturing to low-bid suppliers is coming home to roost for Mattel, as it has been forced to recall another 9 million China-manufactured toys, a huge recall, when one considers that its most recent recall was of "just" 1 million toys.

WSJ reports (subscribers only):

The toy-making giant issued recalls Tuesday for millions of toys that contain magnets that can be swallowed by children or could have lead paint. The recalls involve 7.3 million play sets, including Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures, and about 250,000 die-cast cars that contain lead paint. The action was announced on the company's Web site and at a news conference by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. (See Mattel's recall list and statement.) ...

The emergence of a second recall is bad news for Mattel, which has so far weathered the recall with little damage to its share price. The company announced a $30 million charge to its second-quarter earnings related to the first recall. But more bad news is likely to hurt as parents begin to think about toys for the coming holiday season.

And recalls for lead, magnets and other nastiness come on top of another troubling China trade duh!-revelation: That not all Chinese factories are worker paradises. Earlier his year, Huang Xing Light Manufacturing was accused of underpaying and mistreating employees. (One wonders what "underpaying" means in the Chinese economy!)

We assume that the factory, making Disney souvenirs funder a license agreement, was not the happiest place on earth.

As long as consumers continue to demand the lowest price without consideration of what that means in the country of manufacture, and as long as China continues to put drawing capital out of the West ahead of the living conditions of its citizens, we can expect more of these stories.

See also:
Lead Paint Was Very Bad For This Guy's Health
More Evidence Of Evil In The Heart Of China
It's Wednesday; Do You Know Where Your Childrens' Lead Is?