MATTEL

Mattel

Lean and magnets for kids.

• Forty eight years after her debut, and without a wrinkle to be seen on her bizarrely-proportioned plastic features, Barbie is still the flagship plaything for Mattel, making it the world’s number one toymaker.
• Mattel also sells Fisher-Price toys and Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.

A total of 20 million Mattel toys were recalled on three occasions when the company suggested that the lead-based paint and small magnetic parts of some toys were potentially harmful to its child consumers. The toy industry has become even more competitive.Giant retailers (such as Wal-Mart and Toys R Us) have forced prices down, leading corporations to manufacture as cheaply as possible in countries like China.In order to maintain even modest profits, many of these factories have no choice but to accept toy companies’ low prices.

Sadly, workers’ salaries and general treatment are the only flexible factor of production. Mattel will now require that every batch of paint from every vendor be tested for lead, that random inspections be instituted and that every production run of finished toys be checked for compliance.