What he did: At times focused his public comments about massive recalls on lead-paint issues associated with Chinese manufacturers. As it turned out, more than 18 million of the 21 million toys were pulled because of a Mattel magnet design flaw.

The excuse: Thomas Debrowski, a Mattel executive, told China's product safety chief that it was "important for everyone to understand that the vast majority of those products that we recalled were the result of a design flaw in Mattel's design, not through a manufacturing flaw in Chinese manufacturers."

The fallout: Mattel reported a 1 percent drop in third-quarter profit compared to the same period a year ago.