The names go together like a toxic toy tempest - benzene, lead, mercury, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, and cobalt.
Since the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act in 2008, our awareness of the dangers of heavy metals in promotional products appealing specifically to children has come front and center. Even before that, suppliers and distributors shipping into the State of California were coming to grips with "The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986." Today of course, you know that law as Prop65, and the standard warning label information of, "This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm" which should be on all products sold in the state if they contain one of the chemicals on the list.
But one county in upstate New York has taken things a step further, perhaps several steps. Rockland County has a brand new "Toxic Toy" law which basically bans all toys with seven chemicals in any amount "greater than zero." County executive Ed Day told the Rockland County Times, "This is serious. Beyond the disappointment children have when perfectly safe "Happy Meal" toys are now banned by an absurd law, we now have significant economic issues, such as toy stores who are mulling over pulling other toys, clothes and even child car safety seats off [the] shelves too!"
Images of the Grinch could have appeared in Rockland County, save for the county attorney arranging for the ban to be put on hold until December 31. In case you think this is just a tempest in a small teapot, think again. The Safe to Play Coalition, which represents among other non-profits, the Toy Industry Association (TIA), fought and won against a similar piece of legislation in May in Albany, NY.
Further, according to Rick Locker, attorney for the Coalition, there is "no way to test these chemicals down to zero." The TIA was direct in its statement on the situation, "Nothing is more important to toymakers than preserving the safety of children at play. Unfortunately, Rockland County's so-called Toxic Free Toys Act is inefficient, unnecessary, illegal, and does nothing to strengthen toy safety."
Switching gears a bit, I wanted to acknowledge Tim Andrews and his staff at ASI for a bold move last week at the annual Power Summit. On a part of the program called "the disruptors," ASI invited speakers who are doing just that to our industry. Rather than avoid organizations challenging the industry status quo, those players were invited to address head-on the 250 key industry execs assembled at Dana Point. I thought it was great to hear Don LeBlanc from Vistaprint say he was there actively looking for supplier partners, and explain how Vistaprint could make money on a $100 order. He told the crowd that “half of you will love me, and half will hate me” at the end of his presentation, and he was probably right. But it was a great presentation.
The questions got a little more edgy from the Power Summit crowd when it came to Alibaba, and its spokesperson, Michael Lee. He tells ASI that its intent in North America is to "remove the friction" in the promotional products market, rather than crowd others out of the space. You can hear Michael Lee's ASI interview in this video.
But what most were thinking, and some asked, was about the frequent complaints involving counterfeit goods sold by Alibaba. The drumbeat continues ahead of the November 23rd issue of Forbes magazine, and a scathing article that claims Alibaba's massive counterfeit problem will never be resolved.
According to Forbes, "The scale of the fakery is enormous – at any given time Taobao (Alibaba’s online bazaar) offers millions of suspect goods for sale, from handbags to auto parts, sportswear to jewelry."
When Forbes searched for listings on Taobao with the word "Gucci" and set the preferred price range under 300 yuan (less than $50), well below the price of real Gucci products, 30,000 results popped up.
The sellers of four of the items on the first page confirmed in online chatting that they hire factories to produce these wares using the original design. A large number of the rest are of designs similar to those of Gucci products, with slight alterations, such as the replacement of the letter "G" in a handbag's pattern with ‘D’.”
How about you, do you agree that while the products may not be real, the problem sure is?
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for more than 30 years. He's a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He is the executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the industry’s only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant products. When he's not working, you can find him traveling the world with his lovely wife, working as a volunteer Guardian ad Litem, or sometimes even enjoying a cigar at his favorite local cigar shop. Follow Jeff on Twitter, or reach out to him at jeff@qcalliance.org.