With the holiday season
quickly approaching, one industry sector that really doesn't need a crisis
situation or cloud hanging over its head is the toy industry. But unfortunately
for them, that's exactly what they
have. And boy do they have it in spades right now. In fact, the industry couldn't even get through Halloween without hitting
a speed bump. Products such as
Halloween pails, cape costumes, pumpkin Mr. Potato Heads, and fake teeth were recalled last week.
Google any combination— toy
recall; toy
safety
; or toy
industry
—on the search engine's News section and you'll get articles from a
number of local
media outlets across the
world to the
New York Times documenting the recall and the issues and backlash it's causing.
But despite the huge amount
of media coverage and bad publicity surrounding the recall of millions of toys,
more one third (37%) of consumers say they “plan to spend the same amount or
more on toys this holiday season compared to previous years,” according to a
recent survey by eToys.com.
However, another poll done by Reuters/Zogby shows that “three-quarters of U.S.
consumers plan to shun toys made in China this holiday season.”
And while
Mattel has gotten the brunt of the bad press, the entire industry has to be holding its breath in anticipation of
what the holiday shopping season has in store. Because if they think that every
parent doesn't have at least some level of concern over shopping for toys, no
matter how small it is, then they are simply kidding themselves.
