Kmart shoppers sound alarm over 'exploding' kids' product
Parents are worried the item could cause serious injury.
Aussies are calling on Kmart to recall a children's drink bottle amid safety concerns after scores of parents claimed it shattered after being dropped, leaving behind dangerous sharp pieces of polystyrene plastic that could injure a little one.
Taking to Facebook, one concerned mum posted a photo of the smashed 1L Spider-Man bottle with the comment, "Just a bit of a PSA, my son who's three was carrying this — it was only one-third full. He dropped it on our tile floor and it broke immediately, it didn't bounce or roll around, it just smashed. Please be careful."
The woman said she thought Kmart should "definitely recall" the drink bottle, which is part of the official Spider-Man merchandise range, and she certainly didn't want a replacement.
Kmart responds to complaint
In a statement, a Kmart spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia, "We are currently reaching out to this customer so that we can fully investigate. The safety of our customers is always our priority."
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Not an isolated incident
The original post was flooded with scores of comments from other parents who bought the Marvel character bottle and claimed the same thing happened to them, leaving "very sharp edges" scattered around, sometimes within hours of purchase.
While one shopper said of the $7 item, "You get what you pay for," most commenters expressed concerns about the "unsafe" product being marketed to children who easily drop objects. One disappointed customer said her son dropped the bottle, which has a flip-top lid, as soon as they left the shopping centre so wasn't even able to use it.
Another claimed, "We had one and it did the same but exploded as my grandson picked it up off the bench. Our Kmart store wouldn't do anything about it."
"Ours did the same, dropped and smashed on carpet! We'd only had it for two days," an annoyed customer wrote, while another said her daughter's Kmart Star Wars drink bottle, which is made of the same material, broke when she put it down on a counter.
A woman claiming to be a childcare worker also weighed in, saying she is yet to see one of the bottles last "past the morning".
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