This image provided by Consumer Product Safety Commission shows Zuru’s full-sized Robo Alive Junior Baby Shark Sing & Swim Bath Toys. About 7.5 million “Baby Shark” bath toys are being recalled, Friday, June 23, 2023, after multiple impalements, lacerations and puncture wounds were reported in children playing with them. Toymaker Zuru said it’s recalling both full-size and mini versions of its robotic baby shark toys that have hard plastic top fins. (Consumer Product Safety Commission via AP)
About 7.5 million singing and swimming “Baby Shark” bath toys are being recalled after multiple lacerations and puncture wounds were reported in children playing with them.
Zuru, an El Segundo, California-based toymaker, said it's recalling both full-size and mini versions of its robotic baby shark toys that have hard plastic top fins, which pose the injury risks.
Twelve injuries have already been reported with Zuru's full-sized Robo Alive Junior Baby Shark Sing & Swim Bath Toys — after children sat or fell on the now-recalled products. Nine of these cases required stitches or medical attention, according to a Thursday release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
While injuries have only been reported with these full-sized toys so far, Zuru is also recalling Robo Alive Junior Mini Baby Shark Swimming Bath Toys “out of an abundance of caution."
Consumers in possession of the recalled toys are instructed to stop using them immediately and contact Zuru for a full refund. To get the refund, customers are asked to cut off or bend the tail fin, write “recalled” and a registration code on the body of the baby shark and upload a photo on a site dedicated to the recall.
The recalled products can be identified by model numbers and date codes. Zuru's Robo Alive Junior Baby Shark Sing & Swim Bath Toys and Robo Alive Junior Mini Baby Shark Swimming Bath Toys were sold in-person and online at chains including Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgreens and TJX Companies from May 2019 through March 2023.
In a company announcement, Zuru noted that that the recall only impacts the versions of the baby shark toys with a hard plastic fin. The newest toys, which have a silicone fin, are not part of the recall, Zuru said.
“We want to assure our customers that we are committed to the highest levels of safety and quality of all our products, and we have implemented measures to prevent future incidents by working to promptly remove these products from retail and replace them with a newly designed product,” Zuru wrote.
Memorial Day rang in the unofficial start of summer here in the United States -- and with it, the unofficial start of summer travel. Whether consumers traveled by air or by land, they probably experienced some form of frustration over the weekend. Flyers faced delays and cancellations, and drivers faced the most expensive gas prices ever recorded on Memorial Day. Zach Griff, Senior Aviation Reporter for the Points Guy, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-generation gaming ecosystem Joystick recently raised $8 million in a seed round and is in the process of raising a $110 million Series A funding round. Gaming ecosystems are a relatively new type of platform in the Web3 space, allowing users to maximize their play-to-earn gaming opportunities, exchange crypto-currencies, and sell their digital assets. Joystick says its platform is flipping the current model on its head by giving players the opportunity to keep 100% of the revenue they earn. Robin Defay, co-founder and CEO of Joystick, and Michael Le, co-founder of Joystick and TikTok content creator, join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Abe Stein, Head of Innovation at Sports Innovation Lab, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why the top four spots on his company's 2022 list are European soccer clubs and discusses Sports Innovation Lab's plan to publish data on women's pro sports teams in the not-too-distant future.
Joel Birch, Co-Founder and CEO of Stacked, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why he doesn't see any new catalysts that would lead to a Bitcoin rally at the moment. He also reiterates that now is a good time for long-term Bitcoin investors to buy low.
The dating app Bumble has sponsored bills and pushed lawmakers to criminalize the online practice of sending unsolicited nudes or “cyberflashing." Payton Iheme, Bumble's head of public policy for the Americas, joined Cheddar News to discuss why the app was going after the harassing behavior beyond its own platform. "Now, while we went to work internally in the company, and we created something called private detector to automatically blur those images so the user can decide if they want to see them, there's nothing for the rest of the internet," she said. "And so that's why we went to work with these laws."
The holiday weekend saw Disney+ and Netflix competing head-to-head for streaming views as the Disney behemoth kicked off the unofficial start to summer with its release of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and Netflix responded with the first part of "Stranger Things" Season 4. The streaming giants caught the eye of Wall Street, and Seth Schachner, the managing director at consultancy Strat Americas, joined Cheddar News to break down the heavy hitters. "This is a very tough, competitive game, and I don't see it getting any easier," he said. "I think you'll probably see more consolidation."
Amid high inflation, shoppers are pinching their pennies in the grocery stores and becoming more frugal when food shopping. However, supermarkets like Kroger are pushing back against passing on the higher costs and demanding reasons for the higher food prices from suppliers.
The founder and president of Cyborg Mobile Kobie Hatcher has been on a strong trajectory to disrupt his industry with a program called The New Technologists. It's not only meant to address the diversity gap within large tech companies but also help pave the way to transform the lives of young BIPOC students. He joined Cheddar News to talk about how he's working to make a difference with the lack of diversity in tech. “There's truly no lack of talent out there. It's just identifying them and letting them know that, hey, I've been in the tech sector for over 20 years. I see you. I know what you can bring, bring it, we need it," Hatcher said.
