Mattel's third toy recall: Parents response ho-hum, could Barbie survive?

Sarah Gilbert — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:07:00 EST

Filed under: Bad News, Products and Services, Rants and Raves, China, Scandals, Mattel, Inc (MAT)

After Mattel (NYSE: MAT) announced its first huge lead-based paint recall spanning dozens of my children's favorite toys, from Diego to Elmo (how could you?), my initial response was something along the lines of: no more Chinese toys, ever! After the second recall, largely focused on Polly Pocket dolls (I have boys but still, Polly Pocket is hard to resist) and choking hazards, I went even further and darkly considered removing the plastics from my family's consumption altogether -- more than one friend made that decision, too, putting plastic toys and Tupperware in garbage bags and divesting entirely.

Late last night, Mattel announced yet another recall, this one not quite so big as the others and focused largely on small parts of Barbie accessories -- the dog from the Barbie Dream Puppy House; the cat from the Barbie Dream Kitty Condo; the dog and dinner plates from the table and chairs kitchen playset -- as well as a few toddler toys, two GeoTrax trains and the lid from a bongo drum in a Big, Big World playset. And I? Had almost no reaction. I didn't frantically root through my children's toy boxes, searching for toxic toys. I didn't email all my friends, using a subject line with several exclamation points. I didn't call my pediatrician's office to schedule a blood lead test (ok, so I've already done that). Mattel, I've decided, isn't the bad guy here; nor am I quite as angry at China (even though I'll admit to a greatly heightened blood pressure when I heard that a Chinese government official objected to lead limits in children's jewelry).

The thing is, while I've decided to severely limit my consumption of plastic children's toys, this isn't about them anymore.

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Mattel's third toy recall: Parents response ho-hum, could Barbie survive? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite recalls, another great month for Chinese exports

Michael Fowlkes — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Forecasts, Industry, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, China, Economic Data, Politics

During the month of July, China had yet another very impressive trade surplus, showing a 67 percent jump year over year to $24.4 billion. The country has been under serious scrutiny regarding its currency controls, but still denies that it is trying to manipulate a surplus.

July's figures are sure to spark more debate over what to do with the Chinese trade situation.

Last year America had a trade deficit of $232.5 billion with China, its largest one-year deficit with one country in history. This year analysts are predicting that number to increase.

While it is true that the Chinese government has been trying to curb the difference by adding exports on some of its goods and taking back rebates on taxes of certain goods, the impact of these efforts has been negated by lower import levels of many high dollar items. The country has been undergoing massive growth over the past several years, and the country has been trying to cool the country's growth by slowing down construction, which has lowered its import levels.

It just goes to show that even with all the recent bad press over harmful Chinese imports, Americans are still gobbling up cheap Chinese goods as fast as they can.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.

Despite recalls, another great month for Chinese exports originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 10 Aug 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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