Little Tikes a Little Late

I heard on the radio this morning that Little Tikes is recalling 1.7 million tool kits and tool benches because of over-sized nails. The radio announcer said “just place the nails in a place your kids can’t reach them and they should be fine.” I felt like that was not enough of recall since at least two children had already choked…I decided to check out the Little Tikes website.

The Little Tikes website had something alarming on it. The recall is for products that were bought anywhere from 1994-2004. The products had been discontinued and redesigned in 2004 and were no longer a hazard.

The company did have a recall in 2009 after a few choking incidents, but apparently over 1.7 million were still out there, and still having the same problems. Why did it take 5-15 years before the first recall, when they obviously knew in 2004 that there was a problem (the reason it was discontinued).

Hasbro also has a track record of recalling toys, and then calling for more recalls years later. The Easy Bake Oven was recalled in 2006 because children were burning their fingers when trying get their desserts out. Over 100,000 children burnt their fingers before the first recall happened which is a lot more than the few kids who choked with the Little Tikes tool set.

Just like returning the nails for the tool set, the Easy Bake Oven recall was simply filling out a form and getting a replacement part. After the recall, another 250 children were burnt, resulting in a compete recall of all ovens made before 2006.

One more thing that ties these two cases together is that both recalls were for products that had already been altered. The Easy Bake Oven recalled was in 2007 for ovens made in 2006 and before, showing that the model for 2007 was different. The tool box was recalled for models manufactured in 2009 and before, and since it is 2011 the model had already been changed.

Utilitarianism

After years of following the utilitarianism theory, continuing to sell the product and not doing a recall, Little Tikes took a turn and ended up not following the theory. If the company had not recalled the product, it would have fallen under the utilitarian rule.

Utilitarianism does not take into account emotions, and when dealing with little kid’s emotions is key. Only a few children choked and all recovered so recalling the toys under the utilitarian theory would not be the greatest good for the greatest number

The Easy Bake Oven recall did not leave the items on the shelf either, at least the second time around. If they would have stopped at the first recall and continued selling the product, their actions would have fallen under this theory. However, more children got hurt and they decided to take everything off the shelves and recall all the ovens sold.

Both cases did not follow property number one of the utilitarianism rule either. The rule states that decisions should be based on the majority with little thought to that of the minority. For both recalls the majority of children who had the toys were not injured. There was a minority of about 100,000 of millions for the Easy Bake Oven and an even smaller one of 2-5 children for the tool sets.

Egoism

When I first read of the recall, I thought that they were looking out for their consumers and not themselves. After reading a little bit more, and looking into what the egoism theory really means, I saw that in fact Little Tikes was doing exactly what the theory states.

Little Tikes only recalled their product so that in the long run, parents will feel safer about buying from them. The nails that were/are being recalled are not a huge cost to the company, and what they are gaining is trust in their brand.

The Easy Bake Oven recall took a little bit of a turn to make it an egotistic move. The first move (recalling the part and replacing it) was not a huge deal to them or the consumer. After a few more children got burnt, they recalled all ovens and the ones in stores. This move was more egotistic. They basically recalled the rest of the ovens because of media coverage and concerned parents hounding them and made the move to prevent their brand from becoming tarnished.

Hasbro did the major recall of ovens to save their skin. In order for parents to want to get an oven again, some for the third time, they needed to take extra precautions, not just for the kids, but for themselves.

Conclusion

The Easy Bake Oven recall is one that I remember from childhood. I remember having to return my oven to the store (I got a princess tent instead) and I remember thinking about the minority of people who would get hurt. The Hasbro Company learned their lesson the hard way, and I am sure they weigh these theories every time they do a recall.

In my opinion, the Little Tikes recall is far from over. Although their decisions thus far can be sorted into many of the classical ethical theories, their future decisions about the product could change the theories their actions fall under entirely.

-Sara Alderman

Other sources:

http://www.wcpo.com/dpp/money/business_news/big-recall-of-little-tikes-play-tool-sets

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/06/toy.oven.recall/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

The Boy Who Tweeted Wolf

Have you ever heard of the boy who cries wolf? The little boy is unethical and no one believes him when he needs them too.

What about the boy who tweets wolf. Is it unethical to tweet information you don’t know is correct? What about retweeting information?

In today’s world news is created and travels fast. No longer do you have to wait by the T.V. to find out why there is smoke, you can check your twitter for a minute- by- minute update of the fire.
With the new speed of information comes the opportunity (for some) to be misleading or flat out lie.

According to an article on Mashable.com two individuals decided to tweet that schools were being attacked and children were being kidnapped in the state of Veracruz.

The tweets were false all the children were safe in school several accidents and chaos erupted because parents became frantic.
Mexico dubbed these two “twitter terrorists” and they are now facing up to 30 years in prison.

There is a huge debate on if legal action can be taken, but ethically is it right? Giving false information at any time on any medium is unethical. If you know what you are saying is not the truth you are lying, and lying is unethical.

Mike Wise is another great example of Twitter’s importance in distributing the news. Wise is Washington Post reporter who wanted to demonstrate how bloggers and Twitter users will post information without fact checking.

His attempt at proving a point backfired when he tweeted from an account that stated he was Washington Post reporter. His tweet (which was untrue) linked to a blog with rumored football trade information.

People took his tweet seriously and chaos ensued. He was soon suspended from his job and the credibility he had gained over 15 years was gone in time it took to write a tweet.

Wise tried to show how unethical others were being on Twitter and while blogging but instead he wound up being a case for his own point. The Post took actions they deemed necessary to fix behavior they did not agree with.

While Wise and the “Twitter Terrorists” both had actions taken against them for their unethical behavior, they are just two examples. There have been millions of tweets written with fake information, some with fun pranks and others with terrifying news.

Writing false information in a tweet is not only unethical but it is also lazy. Checking your facts is not reserved for news articles and textbooks; you should be checking information for your blog posts, tweets and Facebook posts as well.

If people continue to see Twitter as a way to be pranksters and a way to create information then the social media platform will continue to lose credibility.

Twitter should never be someone’s only source of news, but It should be an option to get news updates. I hope that people will be ethical about their content to preserve Twitter’s reputation and their own.