Mattel gets a hall pass
Published August 11, 2009 @ 11:09PM PT
Without drawing any conclusions, here's a few facts about Mattel, the world's largest toy company:
- Since 2007, Mattel has recalled 12.7 million toys for safety hazards or lead paint.
- In 2009, Mattel agreed to pay fines to the CPSC totaling $2.3 million and about another $12.5 million in settlements to several states for these safety violations. By contrast, Mattel's advertising expenditure in 2008 was $719 million and its total sales were $5.9 billion.
- In August 2008, The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) was passed by Congress, largely in response to Mattel's recalls. Mattel supported the law.
- Since February 10, 2009, the date when many of the provisions of the CPSIA came into effect, here's what Mattel's stock price has done:
- In July 2009, Mattel reported better than expected quarterly profits.
- And, in August 2009, Mattel was the first company granted permission by the CPSC to operate "firewalled" in-house testing facilities instead of paying third party laboratories for performing required toy safety testing. Consumer Reports wrote of this development, "This is just another example of the fox guarding the hen house."
- Meanwhile, almost every other children's product manufacturer continues to try to figure out how to survive the double-whammy of the CPSIA and an economic downturn.
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Author
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Dan Marshall
- Saint Paul, MN
unbelievable!
Posted by Sarah Lee on 08/12/2009 @ 07:44AM PT
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Mattel knew exactly what needed to be done and then some. The matter is even more shocking when you look at the stock chart.
Posted by Cecilia Leibovitz on 08/12/2009 @ 07:44AM PT
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It's rich that Consumer's Union is now complaining about some of the provisions in CPSIA. After all, they wrote most of it. They're just mad that Mattel peed on their turf and got a provision of their own.
Posted by Sarah Natividad on 08/12/2009 @ 08:24AM PT
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I forgot to mention: Since 2007, Mattel has spent $1.38 million on lobbying (see http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?year=2008&lname=Mattel+Inc ). You can read the backstory about Mattel's efforts to include an in-house testing option at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-matteljun25,0,5665097.story
Posted by Dan Marshall on 08/12/2009 @ 08:46AM PT
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