Mattel says sorry to China over toy recalls Posted 2 hours 14 minutes ago
The world's biggest toy maker, Mattel, has apologised to China over a series of recalls of millions of Chinese-made toys.
The American company says the vast majority of the products were recalled because of design flaws, for which the Chinese manufacturers were not responsible.
Mattel also said that fears over lead paint being used in toys had been exaggerated and China's reputation as a world centre for toy manufacture had suffered after the recalls of about 21 million toys in the span of five weeks.
"Our reputation has been damaged lately by these recalls," Thomas Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president of worldwide operations, told China's quality watchdog chief, Li Changjiang, in the Chinese capital.
"Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys."
Mr Debrowski said he realised the damage that had been done to the reputation of Chinese goods, adding the company was committed to manufacturing in China and was also investing $US30 million in a Barbie store in Shanghai.
"But it's important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers."
The company added in a statement that too many toys had been recalled, although it said that was because it puts safety first.
