Mattel clears up mess, recalls toys in India

First Mattle took a hit. Now it’s the time to clean up the mess. Mattel Inc., the world’s biggest toy maker, has announced a recall of 7,500 items in India that involves Barbie playset accessories. These Chinese-made toys have been recalled because of excessive amounts of lead in the yellow pigment of the paint. “There were two outsourced vendors in China from where the paint was being bought,” said Mr Sanjay Luthra, managing director of Mattel Toys (India). “They have been shut out and Mattle have incorporated a whole new set of scrutinizing process to measure the lead content in the toys,” he added.
In a bid to cleanup their reputation, Mattle is now “scrutinising products in all the three phases of production. But we are concentrating more on the raw materials that are going into making our products as the problems seem to stem from the raw materials,” Mr Luthra said. Mattel is also offering a complete refund to consumers for all its tainted products. The loss incurred from the Indian market is Rs 45 lakhs till now.
However, according to Mr luthra, “There is no price tag to a child's safety. The loss in monetary terms is a tiny one when compared to the huge company and our loss is being compensated by the consumer confidence that we are building in recalling our products and giving refund.” Well, a measure in desperation hardly makes for good PR.
The recall came after Mattel did a complete audit of its products. “In a market where you are pitted against the unorganised sector, where there are so many unsafe toys, consumers will understand the rationale behind this recall.” However, there are no norms to regulate the unorganised sector in matters of safety and neither there are any safety standards regarding toys in India. Toy companies are also not bound by any laws to obtain licence regarding safety. The two Barbie accessories that have been affected include the K8605 deluxe furniture assortment and K8510 premium playset assortment.