Reebok recalls heart shaped charm bracelet linked to death!

On March 23, 2006, Reebok began a voluntary recall of approximately 510,000 heart-shaped charm bracelets that were manufactured in China and distributed worldwide beginning in May 2004. These bracelets were given to consumers as a “Gift with Purchase” with certain styles of Reebok girl’s shoes.

The entire Reebok family is saddened by the tragic death of a four-year-old child from Minnesota, whose reported cause of death was lead poisoning, and who was found to have ingested a trinket with our name on it.

Personally as parents, and professionally as a brand committed to human rights and a healthy, active lifestyle for adults and youth, we extend our deepest sympathies to the child’s family. We recognize that Reebok has an unequivocal responsibility to publicly address this tragedy and to work very hard to ensure that what might have contributed to this death never happens again.

As President and CEO of the Reebok Brand, and the father of three young children, I am deeply saddened and greatly concerned. The day we were notified that there might have been a connection between Reebok and this death we aggressively began our recall process. This process was further escalated when Reebok voluntarily requested that the CPSC put this recall on the “fast track,” so that we could move quickly. Reebok is also conducting a comprehensive review of our quality control programs and the findings of this review will determine what, if any, additional safety measures need to be incorporated into our operations.

Reebok is cooperating fully with appropriate regulators, and working hard to fully understand what happened, how it happened, why it happened and – most importantly – how we can immediately take steps to prevent it from happening again.

We are looking into every aspect of our operation to gather all relevant information so that a comprehensive investigation can be successfully and timely concluded.

I want to assure all of our consumers and our retailers that I will do everything in my power to ensure that no other family, no other child, suffers from a similar tragedy.

Paul Harrington
President and Chief Executive Officer
Reebok International Ltd.