I can only imagine the public relations juggernaut that Mattel mobilized to deal with their massive toy recall. CEO Bob Eckert’s videotaped message to his ‘fellow parents’ probably required more takes than OK Go’s ‘Here We Go Again’ treadmill video. Eckert’s sweeping, hypnotic hand gestures, his grave unsmiling face, and his ‘toy recall’ tone of voice strikes a perfect blend of sincerity, authority, and outrage: I’m as pissed off as you folks that our incompetence has endangered our precious, darling children… but we’re going to do something about it. We’re going to start doing our jobs, because it’s the right thing to do.
And that Eckert managed not to directly mention the country of China yet still imply that it was entirely China’s fault is genius. Notice how only a few of the recalled products involve lead paint. The majority involve magnets, which were presumably apart of design plans that were passed through multiple layers of toymaker bureaucracy before being sent to China. Surely someone at Mattel is paid to pick up on tiny choking hazards on the toys.
According to ABC News, in China, heads are rolling in the toy industry. No, not literally… that we know of…
