Be glad the phthalates ban doesn’t apply to sporting goods

I’ve been following the proposed phthalates ban on children’s toys. Under the ban, companies would have to remove the potentially harmful phthalates from all toys marketed and sold to children. Sporting goods were going to be included in this ban.

Phthalates are linked to certain cancers, hormone imbalances, and the underdevelopment of the adolescent reproductive system, hence the call to ban the additive from children’s toys.

Under this ban, products containing phthalates could not be sold after Feb 10, 2009. For a while, sporting goods were going to be included in this phthalates ban even though they are not considered children’s toys. Fortunately, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, along with other advocates for the sporting goods industry, came to the rescue. They convinced the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to exclude sporting goods from the phthalates ban, arguing sporting goods are not considered children’s toys. The CPSC agreed, and now, even products marketed to the pee wee leagues are not subject to the phthalates ban.

The children’s toys manufacturers have my sympathies. In this economically tough time, manufacturers must reformulate their toy recipes and get them tested. Retailers are forced to pull all products that contain phthalates. And since this ban was put into hasty action, both manufacturers and retailers are scrambling to rework their formulas, budgets, and marketing strategies. Its wreaking havoc in an already tough time.

Let’s be glad the sporting goods and fitness industry was spared. What would a phthalates ban have done to the sporting goods industry? Hmm…Lets think. Phthalates are found in many of the plastic products we purchase. How many sporting goods and fitness items are made from or contain plastic? Too many to count. All these phthalate containing items would have to go. It would be devastating, just like it is for the toy industry.

Many sectors of the sporting goods, athletic, and fitness industry are already suffering huge decreases in revenue. Being forced to reformulate the products containing phthalates would knock even more businesses, not that a ton of them haven’t already filed for bankruptcy.

Even if a company survived, budgets and staff would be slashed across the board. Aren’t marketing budgets already as shoestring as they can get? Apparently not. I hear of companies slashing their marketing budget nearly every day. And, as you already know, when marketing can’t get the word out about products, sales aren’t made. When sales aren’t made, revenue doesn’t come in. When revenue doesn’t come in…you get the picture.

A phthalates ban on sporting goods would have been murder to the industry. Many manufacturers rely on phthalates for their products. While I agree phthalates should be banned, companies need to be given more time to prepare than the toy manufacturers and retailers were given.

Now that the sporting goods industry knows what could lie ahead, they have time to prepare. Those in charge of product production need to get the ball rolling! They need to get rid of phthalates, or else. If you’re reading this and are a marketer for a sporting goods company, it could be your budget, possibly your job, that gets slashed if nothing is done…

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Tags: fitness, marketing, phthalates, phthalates ban, sporting goods