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The Unpleasant Truth Behind Mattel's Unexpected Apology

Executive Vice President for Worldwide Operations Thomas Debrowski recently surprised consumers and policy makers alike by offering an unexceptional and expansive apology to Li Changjiang, the head of China's General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine:

Mattel takes full responsibility for these recalls and apologises personally to you, the Chinese people and all of our customers who received the toys. It is important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of these products that we recalled were the result of a flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers.
For months, Mattel has blamed rogue Chinese subcontractors for endangering American children by violating Mattel's strict safety standards in pursuit of profit. The truth revealed hiding in plain sight by Debrowski's apology is slightly more complex.

Time best explains the discrepancy between Debrowski's apology and Mattel's public position:

Of the 19.6 million toys that [Mattel] has recalled this year globally, 2.2 million were due to lead paint; the remaining 17.4 million (11.7 million in the U.S.) were toys recalled not because of lead paint but because they were made with super-strong magnets.

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