Gateway Corralling Hazardous ‘Stress Cows’

Perhaps Gateway should stick to making computers.

The San Diego-based PC maker is recalling about 1 million foam rubber cows bearing Gateway’s name and trademark Holstein spots. It turns out the 4 1/2-by-3-inch “Stress Cows” can tear apart into pieces that children might choke on. That, of course, wouldn’t mesh with Gateway’s image as a company providing family-friendly computers.

Most of the foam cows were given away free with the purchase of a Gateway computer, although some people paid $3.99 for the toys. The cows were distributed between September 1997 and September 1999, and “a few conscientious parents” recently warned the company about their potential as a choking hazard. Gateway alerted the Consumer Product Safety Commission and advised customers to discard the Stress Cows or bring them to a Gateway Country store to exchange them for “Gateway-branded products of comparable value.”

Information about the safety hazard is online at https://www.gateway.com/about/news/stresscow.shtml.