Mattel Inc. and Fisher-Price Inc. both issued a recall of more than 2 million infant swings last October after they suffocated 5 infants to death.
Here’s the tea:
A Corporate Deception
Mattel and Fisher-Price are household names synonymous with trust in children’s products. Parents, lulled by this reputation, purchased over 2.1 million Snuga Swings since 2010, believing they were providing their infants with a safe and soothing environment. But behind the polished marketing campaigns lay a grim truth: these swings posed a significant risk of suffocation.
The companies failed to provide clear warnings about these risks on their packaging or in their advertising. Reports submitted to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as early as 2014 highlighted incidents where infants’ faces became trapped in the swing’s headrest or pillow, creating a suffocation hazard.
Despite being aware of these dangers, Mattel and Fisher-Price continued to market the swings without addressing the risks or redesigning the product. This omission is not just negligence; it is corporate malfeasance rooted in an insatiable appetite for profit.
A Recall That Falls Short
In October 2024, after five infant deaths were linked to the Snuga Swing, the CPSC finally issued a recall. However, the recall was woefully inadequate. Instead of offering full refunds or robust solutions to ensure consumer safety, Mattel and Fisher-Price provided a measly $25 refund—conditional upon consumers destroying specific components of the swing.
This paltry gesture underscores their prioritization of cost-cutting over accountability.
Consumer safety advocates lambasted the recall.
CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka criticized it as “doomed to fail,” pointing out that conflicting instructions from Fisher-Price over the years—such as a 2015 YouTube video suggesting the swings were safe for naps—would likely lead consumers to continue using them improperly.
Consumer Reports echoed this sentiment, decrying Fisher-Price’s refusal to take full responsibility and urging stricter measures to prevent further harm.
Corporate Greed
This scandal is emblematic of a broader systemic issue: corporate greed as a commercial determinant of harm. Under neoliberal capitalism, corporations like Mattel operate within an economic framework that incentivizes profit maximization at any cost—even when it endangers lives.
Neoliberalism’s emphasis on deregulation and market efficiency has eroded mechanisms meant to protect consumers. Regulatory agencies are often underfunded and outmatched by corporations with armies of lawyers and lobbyists. In this case, despite multiple warnings from consumers and safety organizations, Mattel and Fisher-Price faced no immediate repercussions until lives were lost—a chilling reminder of how neoliberal policies prioritize corporate interests over public welfare.
The Cost of Corporate Irresponsibility
The economic consequences of such negligence extend beyond individual families to society at large:
- Healthcare Costs: Families whose children suffered injuries or fatalities due to the Snuga Swing face significant medical expenses and emotional trauma.
- Consumer Distrust: Scandals like this erode trust in brands, leading to decreased consumer confidence across entire industries.
- Legal Costs: Class-action lawsuits like Bigelow v. Mattel impose financial burdens on both plaintiffs seeking justice and defendants attempting damage control.
- Regulatory Strain: Government agencies must allocate resources to investigate and address corporate misconduct, diverting attention from other pressing issues.
These costs highlight how corporate irresponsibility creates ripple effects that burden not only victims but also taxpayers and public institutions.
Families Betrayed
Parents trusted Mattel and Fisher-Price with their most vulnerable loved ones: their infants.
The emotional toll of realizing that trust was misplaced is immeasurable. Ms. Bigelow’s daughter suffered injuries from falling out of the swing twice before she stopped using it—a decision many parents might not make until it’s too late.
This betrayal underscores the need for stronger consumer protections and greater corporate accountability. It also raises ethical questions about how much harm corporations are willing to inflict in pursuit of profit.
Corporate Accountability Under Neoliberal Capitalism
The Snuga Swing scandal is a textbook example of neoliberal capitalism’s darker side: its capacity to commodify safety while externalizing risks onto consumers.
Neoliberalism’s ethos—rooted in individualism and market supremacy—has allowed corporations to evade responsibility for their actions by framing harm as an unfortunate side effect rather than an avoidable consequence.
Under this system:
- Corporations prioritize shareholder returns over ethical obligations.
- Regulatory agencies are underfunded or captured by industry interests.
- Legal frameworks often favor corporations through limited liability structures.
- Consumers bear disproportionate risks while being denied adequate remedies.
This dynamic perpetuates wealth disparity by concentrating profits among executives and shareholders while leaving victims to shoulder economic and emotional burdens.
Demanding Change
To prevent future tragedies like those caused by the Snuga Swing, systemic changes are urgently needed:
- Stronger Regulations: Governments must enforce stricter safety standards for children’s products and hold corporations accountable for violations.
- Transparency Requirements: Companies should be required to disclose all known risks associated with their products upfront.
- Fair Compensation: Victims should receive full refunds or adequate compensation for defective products—not token gestures like Mattel’s $25 offer.
- Corporate Penalties: Severe financial penalties should be imposed on companies that prioritize profits over safety.
- Consumer Advocacy: Grassroots movements must amplify consumer voices to demand better protections and challenge corporate power.
Will Powerful Corporations Ever Change?
While some may argue that public backlash will compel corporations to adopt more ethical practices, history suggests otherwise.
For many companies operating under neoliberal capitalism, unethical behavior is simply “the cost of doing business.” Fines are often dwarfed by profits generated through misconduct, creating little incentive for change.
Real accountability requires systemic shifts that challenge neoliberalism’s foundational principles:
- Replacing profit-driven motives with social responsibility as a core business value.
- Empowering regulatory agencies with resources to enforce compliance effectively.
- Strengthening labor unions and consumer advocacy groups as counterweights to corporate power.
Without these changes, corporations like Mattel will continue exploiting loopholes in pursuit of short-term gains—leaving consumers vulnerable to future harms.
From Corporate Greed to Social Justice
The Mattel-Fisher Price Snuga Swing scandal exposes how wealth disparity, regulatory failures, and ethical lapses converge to create environments where profits trump human lives.
As we navigate these challenges, we must advocate for systemic reforms that prioritize public health, environmental sustainability, and social justice over shareholder interests.
Only then can we begin dismantling the structures that enable tragedies like this one—and build a future where corporations are held accountable for their actions.
In this fight for justice, let us remember: every infant suffocated by negligence represents not just a failure of corporate ethics but also an indictment of an economic system that values profits more than people.
sources:
[1] https://evilcorporations.org/category/product-safety-violations/
[2] attached PDF 🙂
[3] https://journal.upaep.mx/index.php/EthicsEconomicsandCommonGoods/article/download/279/253/494
[4] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10178243/
[5] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2025/Fisher-Price-Recalls-More-than-2-Million-Snuga-Infant-Swings-Due-to-Suffocation-Hazard-After-5-Deaths-Reported
[6] https://www.evilcorporations.org
