Mattel Case Study

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Jasmine Rembert Public Relations Case Study 2012 March, 18 Mattel’s Recall How would you feel if you brought your child a toy that could potentially hurt them? How would you feel if you found out your favorite toy manufacturer was selling harmful toys? Throughout recent years, parents are constantly swamped with reports of products that have been labeled unsafe for their children’s use. Recall after recall has been very hectic the past few years, resulting in overworked consumers and public relation professionals attempting to salvage the company’s image. The recall of an estimated 20 million Chinese-made toys by Mattel on August 14, 2007 shocked many parents in North America. (Bapuji, Beamish) In 1959, Mattel solidified its place as an industry leader with the introduction of the Barbie doll to the toy market. Throughout the decades Mattel has continued to create and market popular toys, join with successful manufacturers, partner with children’s program companies, obtain licenses and rights to manufacture popular lines and acquire other companies. (Public Relations Problems and Cases 2007). In the middle of 2007, August 18th 2007 to be exact, Mattel had to deal with a product crisis. This was the worst crisis Mattel has had in its history. The wake-up call for Mattel came just as it was preparing to announce that the company would recall an estimate of 2 million Chinese-made toys that were tainted with lead paint (Story). Tom Debrowski, Mattel’s executive vice president for worldwide operations said Mattel thought it was dealing with at most “a single failure, from a single vendor who made a big mistake” (Story). But in the middle of the meeting on July 30, 2007 Mattel learned otherwise. The company was subjected to several lawsuits and regulatory actions and suffered severe damage to its reputation. Two separate
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