Mattel. What can I say? "Blame everyone else but me"; that's real mature.
This isn't just a problem with Barbie's new dress. This is serious.
Are people overreacting to this? Probably. 
Is this overreaction warranted? Sure.
When children’s lives are at risk parents don't ever take that chance.

What I'd like to know is the truth. Did Mattel know about the situation in China? If not, why not? If you hire subcontractors you should be fully aware of their operations. It is the responsibility of the Mattel Corporation as a contractor to know if anything was amiss over there. Blaming lax manufacturing standards in China is just passing the buck.

In response to Mattel’s eventual apology to China, that country’s product safety chief, Li Changjang said “I really hope that Mattel can learn lessons and gain experience from these incidents," adding further that Mattel should "improve their control measures."

 I wholeheartedly agree. I mean, at the very least you should do random spot checks to make sure subcontractor-produced products are up to your standards.

“New research from two business professors shows that recalls due to problems with the designs of U.S.-based companies accounted for about 76 percent of the 550 U.S. toy recalls since 1988.

The report was released earlier this month by Paul R. Beamish, an international business professor at Canada's University of Western Ontario, and Hari Bapuji, business professor at University of Manitoba's I.H. Asper School of Business in Winnipeg, Canada.

It found that recalls blamed on design problems and manufacturing defects, such as lead paint or poor craftsmanship, both rose in the past two years as U.S. makers have shifted more of their production to China”

This most recent recall wasn’t the first. How many times is Mattel willing to put our children’s lives in danger? Too many times for my liking.