Mattel had developed
In 1997, Mattel had developed a detailed code of conduct, called its Global Manu- facturing Principles. Covering both Mattel’s factories and those of its contractors and suppliers, the principles addressed a wide range of labor issues. These included wages (at least minimum wage or local industry standard, whichever was higher), child labor (workers had to be at least 16 years old or the local minimum, whichever was higher), and health and safety (compliant with the standards of the American Conference of Gov- ernment Industrial Hygienists). In a move that was at the time unprecedented, the com- pany hired S. Prakash Sethi, a professor at Baruch College in New York, to carry out independent audits to assure compliance with these standards. Mattel gave Professor Sethi a generous budget, access to all facilities and records of the company and its con- tractors, and permission to make the results of his inspections public. Since 1999, the International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA), the nonprofit organization headed by Professor Sethi, had conducted audits of facilities operated by Mattel and its contractors at least once every three years and more often if it found problems. Over the years, Mattel had terminated several dozen suppliers for noncompliance and made numerous changes in its own plants.2
Although its Global Manufacturing Principles focused exclusively on working conditions, Mattel also took steps to ensure product quality and safety. In China, Mattel tested products both at its own facilities and in special test labs. The company had specific standards with respect to lead in paint. Robert A. Eckert, Mattel’s CEO, described the com- pany’s safety protocols for paint:
For years, Mattel has required vendors to purchase paint from a list of certified suppliers or test the paint that they used to ensure compliance with the established standards; audited the certified paint suppliers to ensure compliance with lead level standards; periodically audited vendors to ensure that they are comply- ing with paint requirements; conducted lead level safety tests on samples drawn from the initial production run of every product; and had protocols for further recertification testing for lead on finished products.
On August 1, 2007, Mattel issued a voluntary recall of 1.5 million Chinese-made, Fisher- Price products, including the popular Big Bird, Elmo, Diego, and Dora the Explorer characters, after the company learned that they contained too much lead. The company had begun a special investigation in July after a European retailer found lead paint on a Mattel product. Two weeks later, Mattel recalled another 436,000 toys—the Sarge toy from the Cars die-cast vehicle line—again because of high levels of lead. The second recall also included 18.2 million toys, such as Barbie, Batman, Polly Pocket, and Doggie Daycare play sets, that contained small but powerful magnets that could fall out of the toys and be swallowed by young children. Once ingested, these magnets could attract each other and cause a potentially fatal intestinal perforation or blockage. Mattel’s ongo- ing investigation continued to turn up problems, and in early September the company issued a third recall of 11 different products—eight pet and furniture play sets sold under the Barbie brand and three Fisher-Price toys.
