”MADE IN CHINA” Ping.
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Posted on 11/30/2007 6:48:27 PM PST by JACKRUSSELL
(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) -- Hasbro Inc., the world's second-largest toy company, plans to place a newspaper ad to distance itself from a string of lead paint recalls that have plagued its competitors, Hasbro Chief Executive Alfred J. Verrecchia said Thursday.
The ad, in the form of a letter to consumers, will appear in newspapers next week, Verrecchia said. He did not immediately have details on where and when it would appear, but said the message will be that Hasbro has had no recalls for lead or other dangerous chemicals, and people can feel good about buying Hasbro toys and games.
"Our standards meet or, certainly in the lead paint case, exceed the federal standards, and we have a very robust testing and inspection process in place to ensure that those standards are being adhered to," he said. "We believe that's why we've avoided the recalls."......
......The only risk Hasbro is taking is that it hasn't had a recall yet, Byrne said. He said the ads could also be good for the industry as a whole - helping convince the public that all toys made in China are not going to have lead in them. Most toys are made in China, he said, and that's unlikely to change.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
When that start making TP with Mao’s face on it, I’ll buy a roll. Until then, no chinese for me.
Made in USA looks better to me.
Dirt, it’s natural and fun.
Beat that hasbro!
This is what I was thinking. China, although not innocent, is not the major culprit. It is the importer. They are the ones who make the specifications, and should quality check the items.If China produced a leaded toy, and Mattel refused to accept them, then China would get the idea. I also think it is not the governments job to check the toys. They do not have the resources to check even a sample of every toy.
.....Bob
Who checked all the toys in the pipe line headed to America during and after the recalls.
Im sure Wal-Mart has a lot to do with the problem. After beating up on every supplier and demanding greater discounts. Most companies have started importing more and more goods from the Chinese. Boycott Wal-Mart. Problem solved.
Sure, Wal Mart is the importer of a lot of the toys and they bear a lot of responsibility, but a boycott??? How does thst solve the problem. Somebody else will slip in and fill the void.
I think the importer needs to live up to their responsibilities to bring to our kids a\safe toys. Wal Mart, too.
....Bob
Hasbro may want to rethink this approach. The first time one of their toys is found to contain the slightest contaminant, and believe me someone will find something if they look hard enough, their advertisement will get shoved up their bum sideways. Hasbro will be looked at in a worse light than if they had never brought attention to themselves with the ad.
Key word: yet
Here’s a moment.
A friend and I were discussing getting rid of elder’s canned goods which had gone long past due dates and joking about how you could tell how old it was by how bad the paper label looked.
I said “It’s so old it says... “Made in America”
Both of us laughed then looked at each other and shared a bad and sinking feeling.
Hey Hasbro! Why don’t you start making some of those toys here instead of trying to PR for Red China?
I mean, most of that stuff can be made almost entirely by machine these days anyway. You’ll save a boatload of money on shipping.
Think about it. I went into a dollar store a while back and found some cups that were labeled “Made in the U.S.A.” I was shocked when I saw it. Then I thought about it and I realized that they probably made those plastic cups with a simple machine. Just slap a “Some assembly required” on the stuff and you’ll have more American pride, actually save money on labor and shipping, and give kids something to do.
Stupid move. Hasbro has a greater percentage of their toys imported from China than does Mattel, and they use many of the same vendors.
It’s only a matter of time before someone finds the lead paint in a Hasbro product.
Its not WalMart. Is leaded paint cheaper? No.
The problem is really astonishingly simple. The manufacturer specification for the item(s) did not specify anything about lead content in the paint. Lead has been gone for so long in the U.S. that it is just assumed anymore. So when paint was ordered nobody even thought to check whether there was lead in it. I’d bet that cost is just not a factor here, but merely inattention to detail.
Nevermind that the whole leaded-paint issue is massively overblown. We will assume for the moment that lead paint on a toy actually presents a real threat, which it probably doesn’t, but hey it sells papers.
China is learning some important lessons just now about playing in a world economy. They’re hard lessons. Rightfully so. But we are fools if we write off china as merely producing “crap”.
They said that about “jap” cars once. Then they cleaned our clocks.
Not buying for my grands.
Hell, I cant even eat Chinese food anymore.
They make me sick.
Thanks for the ping Jack.
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