The recent brouhaha over the since-retracted safety allegations leveled at Zhu Zhu Pet toys by GoodGuide raises the question of who got hurt. I contend that the biggest victims might be other consumer advocacy groups. Please don't misunderstand: the manufacturer, Cepia, is the primary victim, and what happened was wrong -- although it will be interesting, given that the small company has been unable to keep up with demand, to see whether it will need to stop supplying at full capacity to deal with a slowdown in demand. However, consumer groups might be hurt more.
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I get this idea from the convergence of the Zhu Zhu story with the release last week of a report (covered in the current edition of Product Safety Letter), that found that some products and brands uninvolved in the 2007 Summer of Recalls nonetheless were hurt, although the damage was mostly limited to products similar to those recalled or to other products in the same brands as those recalled.
Thus, is it possible that similar "spillover" -- as the study authors called it -- might occur among consumer groups due to the Zhu Zhu fallout?
After all, the story changed within two days -- while people were still paying attention -- so what most people likely will remember is notPopular Toy Found to Be Dangerous, but Consumer Group Gets it Wrong.
Add to this likelihood the fact that there is a strong current in American opinion that we're going overboard with safety. This current is why humor stories on wacky warning labels or on wondering how previous generations survived continue to circulate year after year.
But the current doesn't stop at humor. It runs into hostility. Indeed, one anti-CPSIA advocate this week went so far as to use publicly the irresponsibly offensive (yet laughable) slander, terrorists, to describe consumer groups when reacting to the Zhu Zhu story.
Now add the fact that Americans are, frankly, so overloaded with safety information, including on recalls, that they tend to ignore it.
And you have to wonder whether consumer groups that have no association with GoodGuide now will have more trouble being heard.
Sean Oberle is publisher of Product Safety Letter, Product Safety Forum, and Product Safety Daily. Reach him at (301) 229-1027, seanoberle@productsafetyletter.com
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