As for your demand that Eckert take off his business suit – that is ridiculous. He is the CEO. He wears suits. That’s life. What shold he wear? Overalls? Do you want him to stop shaving and take off his Gucci shoes and his necktie on the air and drop them in a garbage can to prove he is just a regular guy? I don’t want CEOs pretending to be “one of the people”. I do want them to to do their jobs.

For issues with excessive chemical agents against bugs and so on, often this is a problem not even cause by the factory but by harbour personal that have instructions to spray all goods but have really no proper equipment, instruction, materials and so on. In that case the damage is done after the pre-shipment inspection. This means incoming quality control is always required. Always.

Now it does seem that all quality issues are there because of China. I think that is not correct. They seem to be linked to China because so many goods are produced there. But most products in China are made to order. Made to order and made to budget.

It’s like golf. Rule number 1, keep the head down. Rule number 2, keep the ****ing head down. Quality control basic principles are simple as well. Check Check Check Check Check Check. Most often quality is skipped because of price pressure but it is always coming back. A Chinese saying says in Chinglish “cheap no quality, quality no cheap”

Some learn the hard way.

This shows totally lax procedures for a company operating at this level of business. I might expect it in some mom and pop operation but not one the size of Mattel.

Have they never heard of putting their own agents inside these plants that work for them, report to them and are responsible to them. Many are blaming the Chinese, but I think this company and it’s CEO are at least equally responsible.

At this level you make sure the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed – even if they are in Chinese.

Bill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r_PIg7EAUw

Parents trust in these companies to put their kids safety first will be the first thing to go, and moms have a long memory. So the suit and fake talk and especially how he (translated into “the company” for this video) didn’t even sound like they were upset and angry and ready to get to the bottom of it and make sure this kind of thing never happened again, which they really should have been, was very telling. If he had come out in all types of media that moms watch really “speaking” to them, it would have made all the difference in the world.

As a parent and a person: Mattel MUST fund and be ever vigilant regarding the safety of it’s customers.

To me this is just another example of the big generation gap, which now that I think about it, is not just a generation gap, but a new media, authenticity gap.

Part of it is the guy is obviously not comfortable in front of a camera. They might have done better with a really creative PR firm/consultant, but…

The problem with the generation gap between boomers and X/millenials is that the boomers still have all the power and money, and they don’t seem to be easily convinced to let go of all that traditional stuff.

But until you take a leap, you never know how it will happen. You have to experience positive feedback from a new approach before you REALLY believe it.

Apologies without true remorse or solutions for the future aren’t worth squat.

And, my pet peeve – why should the talking points be different for Wall Street than they are for Main (or Elm, or Oak, or) Street? I’m really tired of companies pandering to the financial Gods, when it’s, in fact, the little people who make those numbers.

I do, however, believe that Mattel as a whole is sincere. They’re known to be one of the top corporate citizens and have one of the best toy safety records in the business (audio).