Speak Now Or...
The clock's ticking on impacting the legislation of your business
By Cliff Annicelli -- Playthings, 6/1/2008
It would be funny if it weren't so sad—and so true. The reaction would be ridiculous, except it's not. “It” being the story I read on May 22 courtesy of an Indiana television station about how an 8-year-old girl in Huntingburg, Ind., nearly died after swallowing “about 30 pieces” of Mega Brands' Magnetix construction toy—a shocking number considering Magnetix has been prominently recalled, twice, and subsequently redesigned to prevent its magnets from coming loose from their plastic encasements. The story doesn't say if the magnets came loose before Haley Lents swallowed them. Could they have? Sure. Could it have been an older set of Magnetix? Maybe. The story leaves lots of questions when it comes to those details. By the time you read this they may have all been answered. As of today, all we've got to go on are her father's quotes about what happened.
“Haley loves magnets,” Jason Lents said. “Loves them. And, against my wife's advice, I made sure she got those for Christmas.” No problem there. Nothing wrong with loving magnets, right? But apparently, swallowing things seems to have been an issue with this little girl way before she started inhaling her toys. According to her father, “She's only been in America three years and while she was in Russia, which is where she's from, they told us she ate everything she could get her hands on.” He goes on to admit, “She shouldn't have eaten it.” I agree. “I shouldn't have bought it …” I'll agree to that too—it was probably a risky idea considering your child's propensity to indulge. (Would you have left her with a box of moth balls? How about rat poison? Or anything else, for that matter, that vaguely resembles something edible but isn't at all intended, designed, created or safety mandated to be swallowed by humans.) “… and it shouldn't be on the shelves.”
Oh, here we go…
Maybe the Lents just hadn't heard about the Magnetix recalls. It's possible, right? Just because you're a parent doesn't mean you actively pay attention to what the CPSC has recalled this week, last month or a year ago. There are certainly lots of recalls—of everything. We're all bombarded with a non-stop torrent of information these days, so some stuff's bound to slip through the cracks. Even people with a vested interest in being on top of the toy recall situation can't always keep up. At ToyCon last month, it was interesting to hear people say how they hadn't truly realized the extent of the legislative free-for- all last year's toy recalls have sparked until the conference's opening presentation made painfully clear how much was, in fact, going on, and how fast it's all moving. For the Toy Industry Association, it must be a bit like trying to keep your sand castle intact as the tide comes rushing in.
Information is power, though. And that's something I believe we all can be doing a better job of spreading. I'll be the first to admit that we here at Playthings haven't done enough to keep you informed of what's happening regarding toy safety. So, in the coming weeks we'll be adding a dedicated section to our site that we hope will help you keep better track of what's afoot in the halls of government. It will also make it easier to track which manufacturers have recalled what.
In the meantime, TIA has a Web tool for making your thoughts known to your local government representatives about their efforts to strengthen toy safety standards. Frankly, we believe it's time the issue of toy safety standards stopped being a lecture—by politicians, watchdog groups and parents of dubious skill—and instead became a conversation. We encourage you to add your voice to the discussion by going to http://capwiz.com/toyassociation. It's an easy way to ensure your opinions get added to the mix.
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Now for a bit of housekeeping: Because we've consolidated our July issue into this one, our next issue won't will be mailed until August 1. It will feature a section of “holiday picks” for the fourth quarter. If you're a manufacturer looking to have your products considered for the story, please submit product information and high resolution images of your key fourth quarter drivers to us at toyfairitems@reedbusiness.com.
Separately, we are also soliciting nominations for a feature coming this fall spotlighting the country's best specialty toy stores. If there's a store you think should be included, please contact me directly at cannicelli@reedbusiness.com.
