The Ball State Daily News - BEWILDERED SOCIETY: 'Mitt' recall funny, thought-provoking:

We commonly hear of product recalls and other warnings from car companies, food processors, grocery stores and, yes, even Wal-Mart.

Every so often, there is even a recall traced back to fast food restaurants for, more times than not, toys placed in kid's meals. This time of year, this recalls seem to hit the spotlight in the best interest of consumers' health and safety.

Well, most of them, anyway.

Anyone who has seen some clip of television over the last few months has easily noticed the annoying little pest "Oven Mitt" (voiced by actor Tom Arnold) pitching the roast beef and various other food products available at Arby's restaurants. The character, a horrid excuse of marketing a restaurant, seems to be loved enough to warrant its own "action figure" of sorts.

As active as your hand, at any rate.

Indeed, Arby's began marketing a "cute" take-home version of Oven Mitt this past fall as part of a charity fundraiser. The premiums were sold for $1.99.

On Nov. 18, Arby's voluntarily recalled the Mitts, citing "product quality concerns."

In other words: they are not really high quality oven mitts.

Brilliant!

An Arby's restaurant manager told me that some consumers were actually attempting to use Oven Mitt, of all places, in the oven.

Well, Arby's apparently failed to consider that option... very well, at least.

Cincinnati-based WCPO reported on their Web site that the mitts "may not protect you enough in a real oven."

Go figure.

To their benefit, Arby's is offering a full refund for the mitts if returned to one of their stores. More information can be obtained by calling their consumer hotline at 800-487-2729, ext. 3405.

It makes me long for the days when restaurant toys were "cool."

Actually, I think I said "neato" back then.

[Insert Holiday season inspired columnist dream sequence.]

Back when, McDonald's began including Transformers ("Changeables," thanks to copyright issues) in their Happy Meals. Those toys were themed like McD's famous menu items: milkshakes, fries and BigMac's. At the flick of the wrist, they'd morph into giant, earth-shattering beasts ready to fight for world-dominance.

They actually just kind of grew faces and about an inch of height, depending on the model.

Regardless, those were the days! That is when cheap, overseas-produced restaurant toys were in their prime.

But, back in 2004, today's lads are not as lucky. They're forced into a thicker world of product cross-promotion and more synergy than McDonald's has mascots.

Maybe we just are not putting enough time and thought into today's cheaply-made promotional products.

After all, the Hamburgler would never pose a problem.

Besides, he's still buried in my sandbox.

#posted by Dave 3:08:00 AM