Zhu Zhu Hamsters Sent Scurrying For Safety

GoodGuide, a little known San Francisco consumer group, is an organization that tests products to find how safe and green they are. In today's world this is an extremely appropriate endeavor and service. We need to know what is in products and especially how safe toys are for children.

This holiday season Zhu Zhu Hamsters are the hot Christmas toys. GoodGuide released a statement that they had tested Zhu Zhu Hamsters and found them to be unsafe; exceeding the Federal levels of lead and antimony.

Cepia, the manufacturers of Zhu Zhu disputed the allegations and produced evidence that their products complied with and in some instances exceeded the Federal Reserve compliance standards. They produced the reports as evidence.

GoodGuide has now issued an apology for their error. Apparently they used a totally different testing methodology to the Federal methodology. The Federal standards use a soluble method and deconstruct toys to check the inner products. GoodGuide used an Xray machine on the exterior only. Therefore, the two totally different tests could not be accurately compared. No wonder we have been left with different results and confusion.

This is a good lesson. I think testing products is admirable for public safety. However, I am surprised that GoodGuide were not aware of the precise testing methodology of the Federal Standards. You would think that that knowledge would be part of their industry know-how.

Also, what are their communication protocols? Knowing how frenzied media attention can quickly become, I would think it essential to be aware of the impact you will have on someone's business when you release detrimental information about them.

What would be the intention for releasing information to the public without speaking to the party concerned in the first instance?

Perhaps a phone call to Cepia before the public release could have clarified this testing error. It may have minimized all the emotional upset and not placed any business in jeopardy. Also it may have kept GoodGuide's reputation intact. After all it can take a lot of time and effort to recover a damaged image.

It seems there is a place for communication, consideration and respect for others along with an awareness of the impact certain actions can have. After all we would all like to be treated considerately especially during the 'season of goodwill'. Anyway, hopefully Zhu Zhu Hamsters will continue to be the hot Christmas toys for 2009 and there will be squeals of enjoyment this Holiday Season.


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