Toy recalls are in the news everywhere. It seems that this holiday season, recalled toys are receiving more publicity than the hot new toys being released. Toy manufacturers are scrambling to ensure that their toys meet the safety criteria before the holiday season. Toy testing laboratories everywhere are working overtime to ensure that dangerous toys do not reach the marketplace.
While various authorities like the Toy Industry Association and US Consumer Product Safety Commission are doing their best to curtail unsafe toys at the source, there's still something alarming going on which not many of us realise. One would think that once a toy has been recalled, people shouldn't be able to buy it, right?
Wrong! Recalled toys are still being sold. According to MarkMonitor, a firm that specializes in enterprise brand protection, recalled toys are widely available throughout the United States and worldwide as well. MarkMonitor released the Autumn 2007 Brandjacking Index, a comprehensive report which investigates the potentially hazardous online sale of recalled toys.
The MarkMonitor report reveals that online auction sites, business to business exchange sites and selected e-commerce sites are still doing brisk business selling recalled toys. The toys are being sold at huge discounts and are being shipped to individuals as well as brick-and-mortar retailers within the US as well as UK.
The agency has conducted intensive research on nine toy brands and specifically, four recalled toys that contain lead paint including Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Train, Elmo, and a Barbie and Tanner play set that has loose magnets. They found 1,157 unique auction listings for these 4 toys alone. With this information, you can get some idea about the gravity of the situation.
For the complete report, you can visit the MarkMonitor website at http://www.markmonitor.com.
