angus.todd

In August of 2007 Mattel Inc., the world’s largest toy company, began a massive recall of 9 million toys because of faulty magnets and high levels of lead in paints used on the toys. Immediately Mattel was quick to take the blame for its mistakes in what seemed to be the ethically correct move. CEO  Bob Eckert  was adamant that the company’s number one concern was children safety and for the most part parents bought his apology.

Is ethical business cutting as many corners as is possible in order to turn a profit and making a seemingly sincere apology when those corners come back to bike the business’ public image or should Mattel have spared no efforts from preventing this from happening in the first place.

The public would not likely have been so forgiving with Mattel if they knew that over the 66 years of the company’s existence it has had 28 recalls, numerous reported accusations of stolen toy ideas and in the mid 1970′s found to be releasing fraudulent financial statements to give the appearance of growth.

Can Mattel be considered morally conscious for quickly assuming the blame in such ethical fashion, or was it meerly damage control to hide its underhanded business methods.