WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chair Alex Hoehn-Saric criticized Mattel and Meta for not doing enough to keep dangerous Fisher Price Rock ‘n Play infant sleepers away from consumers.  In letters to both firms, the CPSC Chair demanded they take immediate action to get this hazardous product – that is now associated with approximately 100 infant deaths – out of consumers’ homes and secondary marketplaces.

CPSC and Mattel-subsidiary, Fisher Price, announced the recall of 4.7 million Rock ‘n Play sleepers in April 2019 and reannounced it in January 2023. Alarmingly, CPSC’s surveillance team continues to find hundreds of recalled Rock ‘n Plays being sold by consumers on secondary marketplaces, including Facebook Marketplace every month – equal to about 10 every day.

This is the second time the CPSC Chair has personally called on Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to prevent the listing of recalled products on Meta’s Facebook Marketplace platform. Last August, Meta assured CPSC that it prohibits the sale of recalled products on its platform and described steps that it takes to prevent the posting of these products. Yet the danger persists.

“At best, CPSC is catching these unlawful products after they have been listed for sale and made available to the public,” said Chair Hoehn-Saric. “Facebook is uniquely positioned to identify recalled and violative products like the Rock ‘n Play and stop their sale before they are listed. This would guarantee that these dangerous products are not sold, and further tragedies are averted.”

The CPSC Chair added that the agency is likely not catching every Rock ‘n Play listing and that it should not be left to CPSC to monitor Facebook Marketplace for illegal offerings of life-threatening products. “Your company has the resources and the technology to prevent these listings from appearing in the first place,” said Hoehn-Saric. “I urge you to do more to stop the illegal sale of recalled consumer products on your marketplace to prevent additional infant deaths and injuries.”

In a separate letter, the CPSC Chair urged Mattel to do more to raise awareness of and incentivize consumers to take advantage of the Rock ‘n Play recall. Hoehn-Saric noted the sampled average list price of a Rock ‘n Play sleeper in online marketplaces of approximately $25.  He called on Fisher Price to renew the recall of the product, this time with a more robust remedy that creates a strong incentive for consumers to destroy the products and a marketing budget to ensure that consumers are aware of the recall incentive.

“Fisher Price clearly has not done enough to incentivize consumers to act upon the recall.  Nor have the company’s actions deterred a secondary market for this product,” said Hoehn-Saric. “It is incumbent on Fisher Price to motivate consumers to stop using the Rock ‘n Play and to destroy unused Rock ‘n Plays that may be in their homes. A refund of the full purchase price of the Rock ‘n Play would be a good start in achieving these outcomes.”

Hoehn-Saric is urging consumers to immediately stop using the product and NOT to sell it to another consumer.

Read Chair Hoehn-Saric’s Letter to Meta

Read Chair Hoehn-Saric’s Letter to Mattel

Release Date: April 12, 2023
Contact:  Pamela Springs | PSprings@cpsc.gov