Good News for China

While China may be getting most of the attention -- and the blame -- for a rash of recent toy recalls, the majority of problematic toys in fact come from other countries, according to a new Canadian study.

Toys made in countries other than China had a higher rate of recalls, on a proportional basis, according to the study by Paul Beamish, a professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario, and Hari Bapuji and Andre Laplume with the Asper School of Business in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

So while Chinese-made toys dominate the global marketplace, accounting for 86 percent of those imported by the United States in 2006, the study found they were no more a danger than toys made elsewhere.

Another surprising finding of the study was that design-related problems, such as the use of detachable parts, outpaced defects attributed to manufacturing issues such as the use of lead paint or toxic chemicals.

This gets back to the whole PR issue. It doesn't really surprise me that other third world countries make crappy products too, but people don't have the same association issues with Mexico and Vietnam. You don't look at a Made in Vietnam label on a pair of pjs and automatically think: fire hazard.

This government has never needed a PR machine in China the way you would find in a western democracy. Elections aren't a problem for obvious reasons and if the government doesn't want something printed in the papers, it doesn't get printed.

Western leaders have to sell their ideas to the public to garner support for whatever it is they are promoting. This concept is completely foreign to the Chinese, and they rebel against it.