Posted by
Kilroy on Sunday, September 23, 2007 8:25:49 PM
BUSINESS DESK:
BEIJING -- In what the New York Times characterized as “
an extraordinary move” American toy company Mattel, Inc has issued an apology to China for a recent spate of recalls. Mattel recently pulled off of the shelves toys manufactured under the Mattel label that contained potentially harmful levels of lead. In the weeks following the discovery of the lead tainted toys, Mattel initially cast blame on the Chinese government-owned manufacturing process. Those accusations led to a series of closed door high level meetings between Mattel senior management and China.
Closed door meetings led to dispute resolution. Mattel executives emerged from the meetings with a new perspective of Chinese manufacturing guidelines, issued a prompt apology for the misunderstanding and took full blame for the “
design flaws”. In a joint press conference with Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, Mattel executives said “
Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologizes personally to you, the Chinese people, and all of our customers who received the toys.” In design discussions, Mattel apparently neglected to specifically instruct China that parents prefer toys that do not result in the death or brain damage of their children.
Mattel executives emerge from talks to announce a "renewed spirit of cooperation" with China.
The official Chinese reaction expressed by Mr. Li was that “
This shows that our cooperation is in the interests of Mattel, and both parties should value our cooperation. I really hope that Mattel can learn lessons and gain experience from these incidents and that future closed door meetings will not be necessary.”
American Government officials and corporate leaders expressed appreciation for the Mattel apology and said they were "
proud that Mattel showed the courage to come forward and confess to their crimes against the Chinese factory workers".
American government and corporate leaders praise Mattel's courage.
Shares of Mattel (MAT) traded up Friday on the news of both the return of its senior management team, and the upcoming release of the newly designed “lead-free” Barbie model.
Peoples Barbie 2008