Regulators Say Burger King Balked at Recalling Toy Balls

Federal regulators said Tuesday that Burger King Corp. dragged its feet in recalling more than 25 million Pokemon balls that were distributed in recent weeks as part of a major promotion.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission said Burger King initially refused to stop distributing Pokemon toys temporarily or to recall the containers already in consumers’ hands after the Dec. 11 suffocation death of a 13-month-old girl in Sonora, Calif.

“We’re certainly disappointed they did not stop distributing 1/8the toys 3/8 when we started our investigation,” spokesman Russ Rader said. “Burger King was not very cooperative throughout the process.”

The criticism came a day after Burger King announced the recall and said it worked with the commission on how to handle the issue. Although concerned about initial resistance from Burger King, the agency now is satisfied that Burger King is taking steps to safeguard customers, Rader said.

“Burger King has come around and is doing a good job,” he said.

The commission launched its investigation of the Pokemon containers on Dec. 15 after being notified by the Miami-based chain and the Tuolumne County coroner that the Sonora girl had suffocated. The toddler’s mother had found her in her playpen with one-half of a Pokemon ball covering her nose and mouth.

But the cause of death is preliminary, pending further investigation and final autopsy results, Tuolumne County Sheriff Richard Rogers said Tuesday.

The manager of the Burger King in Sonora, where the child’s family bought a Kids’ Meal with a Pokemon ball inside, said the restaurant continued to distribute the balls with the toys inside until receiving a memo from corporate headquarters on Monday.

Rogers said the family, whom officials have not publicly identified, had no comment and requested privacy.

The Pokemon balls, which are less than 3 inches in diameter, pull apart to reveal a toy inside. But half of the container could become stuck on a small child’s face, the chain said in announcing the recall.

Burger King agreed to the recall after the chain learned of an incident last week in which one of the containers stuck to the face of an 18-month-old child in Leavenworth, Kan. The girl’s father said the toy became lodged more tightly with each breath his daughter took, according to the consumer agency’s records. The father, who was not identified, was able to pull the ball off on his second try. By that time, his daughter’s lips had turned blue, he told the agency.

Burger King spokeswoman Kim Miller said the chain immediately began working with the federal agency but did not want to take action until determining exactly what had happened.

She said the Pokemon balls, made by Equity Marketing Inc. in Los Angeles, had been designed to meet the commission’s safety standards. The company had designed all of the merchandise for the promotion, which included 57 different Pokemon toys that come inside the balls and a special collection of trading cards.

Equity Marketing’s shares fell 18% Tuesday after announcement of the recall. The shares closed at $12.31, down $2.69, in trading of 349,100 shares, more than triple the three-month daily average.

Investors are concerned about Equity Marketing’s role in the recall and its relationship with Burger King, said Melissa Williams, an analyst with Gerard Klauer Mattison & Co.

The company isn’t obligated by contract to cover any costs of the recall, though it may agree to cover some to stay on Burger King’s good side, Williams said. Its relationship with the world’s No. 2 restaurant chain is “on solid ground,” she said.

Equity Marketing spokeswoman Ria Carlson said that Burger King hasn’t asked the company to cover recall costs and that it’s still working on future promotions with Burger King.

“Our relationship has never been stronger,” she said.

When Burger King learned of the second incident late Thursday, the company decided “within an hour” to do the recall, Miller said.

At that point, both the company chain and the commission agreed to announce a recall effort today, which would give the chain time to get out the word to its 8,000 restaurants nationwide to withdraw the toys, Rader said.

Burger King also needed time to distribute posters and purchase newspaper ads warning about the containers, said Miller, who insisted that the chain did not attempt to drag out the process.

“We had agreed on Friday that the way we could handle a truly effective recall was to get the word out on Wednesday,” she said. “We couldn’t guarantee the posters would be in restaurants until Wednesday and that we could get ad space.”

When word of the recall began to leak out, however, the chain decided to issue an announcement late Monday. Indeed, the move caught stores off guard, and they continued to distribute toys until being alerted the next day.

Managers at Burger King restaurants across the Southland received word of the recall Tuesday morning via Fax. Several managers said they expected to receive warning posters to place in store windows by today.

The managers said they are still distributing the balls inside their Big Kids Meals, which are geared for older children. But toys inside the regular Kids Meals now come unwrapped.

At a Burger King in downtown Los Angeles, Consuelo Martinez, 59, looked unimpressed at the danger posed by the Pokemon ball toy that granddaughter Melissa, 8, played with.

“You mean a little girl died from one of these? It’s hard to believe,” she said.

Having lunch at a Boyle Heights Burger King, Fernando Godinez, 28, said he had bought his 4-year-old son “just a few” of the Pokemon ball toys when they were available and never really thought they could pose a danger.

“Actually, 1/8the Pokemon balls are 3/8 bigger than most things I would keep away from my kid when he was real little,” Godinez said. “But I guess with babies . . . the freakiest things can hurt or even kill them.”

Burger King said consumers should take the balls away from children younger than 3 and discard them or return them to a Burger King restaurant for a free small order of fries.

But often, consumers return only a small fraction of products deemed dangerous in federal recalls. In 1997, the return rate was 16%, the commission reported. The numbers are especially low for older or more inexpensive items, agency records show.

The commission has the power to force a recall, but first must complete its investigation and arrive at an official finding that a product poses a substantial hazard, a time-consuming process, Rader said.

The recall is another setback in Burger King’s $22-million Pokemon promotion--one of the largest in the history of the fast-food industry.

Although the campaign has been wildly popular, it has also been plagued by chronic toy shortages in some parts of the country, forcing Burger King to come up with substitute merchandise to appease tearful children and their angry parents.

Burger King President Paul Clayton has taken out two full-page ads in a national newspaper to apologize. A third ad explaining the recall is scheduled to run today.

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Times staff writer Hector Becerra and Times Wire Services contributed to this report.

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Safety Tips

Burger King customers who received Pokemon containers as part of the fast-food chain’s $22-million promotion are urged to take the following steps:

* Take the balls away from children younger than 3.

* Discard the containers or take them to a local Burger King, where they can be exchanged for small orders of French fries until March 15.

* Children can continue to play with the Pokemon toys that come inside the balls.

Sources: Burger King Corp. and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

From Promotion to Recall

Nov. 8: Burger King launches $22-million Pokemon promotion tied to the release of a Warner Bros. film based on the popular Nintendo game. The burger chain plans to release 57 different toys over 56 days.

Nov. 10: “Pokemon: The First Movie” is released and is the highest-grossing Wednesday premier of any film in the history of Hollywood.

Nov. 12: Scores of Burger King restaurants run out of Pokemon toys.

Dec. 11: A 13-month-old Sonora girl dies after being found in her playpen with half of a Pokemon ball covering her nose and mouth. Preliminary autopsy indicates she died from suffocation.

Dec. 15: Burger King and Consumer Product Safety Commission are informed of the Sonora death.

Dec. 23: Burger King is notified of an incident in Leavenworth, Kan. in which half of a Pokemon container stuck to the face of an 18-month-old girl. Her father pried off the container. Burger King informs Consumer Product Safety Commission of the second incident and decides to announce a recall Dec. 29.

Dec. 27: Burger King, citing news leaks, announces recall two days earlier than planned.

Dec. 28: Consumer Product Safety Commission criticizes the chain for refusing to take action sooner.

Jan. 2: Pokemon promotion scheduled to end.