By Susan Tallant/editor-in-chief
Know what Dora the Explorer, Frosted Flakes and Dasani bottled water have in common? They are all winners!
Last week, Consumers International announced the International Bad Product Awards and mega-earners Mattel, Kellogg’s and Coca-Cola came out on top for the above products. Not a good thing in this contest …
Toy giant Mattel won the Bad Toys Award for recalling more than 21 million toys within a five-week period because of design and the use of poisonous levels of lead paint.
One toy contained more than 200 times the amount of lead permitted by U.S. lawmakers, according to CI’s press briefing.
But don’t just blame Dora. Barbie, Elmo, Big Bird and SpongeBob are involved too, along with a huge list of other favorites. For the latest recalls, check Mattel’s Web site.
Don’t blame it entirely on China either. According to CI, Mattel let China take the fall at first, but in late September finally admitted it should be held responsible for some of the faulty toys … but only 11 million of them.
The Bad Food Award goes to Kellogg’s for advertising junk food (high in fat, sugar and/or salt) to kids. The company recently told The New York Times that 27 percent of its U.S. advertising budget is aimed at our children. How dare them …
Coca-Cola won for bad drinks marketing, which is why I will buy a Dasani only if I am really thirsty for fancy tap water. Dasani was forced off of U.K. shelves in 2004, and it never made it to German or French shops.
We shouldn’t blame Coca-Cola though. I mean, after all, the company admits that Dasani isn’t spring water.
So using phrases like “Filtered for purity using state of the art processes and enhanced with a special blend of minerals for a pure, crisp, fresh taste” clears the matter right up.
How could we think otherwise?
I like CI’s perspective: “By bottling up this universal resource to sell back to us, corporations such as Coca-Cola have created a $100 billion U.S. industry at a time when one billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water.”
I like my perspective too.
Wake up America. Isn’t it time we hold deep-pocketed CEO’s responsible for their unethical behavior?
