BEIJING - The latest in a string of bad publicity for Chinese manufacturers could well spell the end of novelty gift production in this quaint country of more than a billion people. In the most recent incident, a massive factory neglected its quality assurance program so badly that no one from management noticed when they began shipping out actual dead bugs inside of real ice cubes.
Within hours of leaving the premises, the 'Fake Dead Bug Inside of Icecube' novelty items had soaked through packaging. This soon led inspectors to look into the source of the meltwater.
Officials found that one of the factory's suppliers had substituted real ice cubes for simulated ones as a cost-saving measure. Meanwhile, another supplier had provided actual dead bugs rather than plastic ones for the gag gifts.
Many parents and novelty gift-givers now wonder if they shouldn't just plan to indefinitely postpone this year's holiday gift-giving obsession. Out of desperation, some people have even decided to limit the amount of wasteful impulse shopping that they would otherwise perform this year (or at least until Chinese manufacturers can get their collective act together).
