The Dora Effect – Mexico's Greatest Chinese Export

In the 1990's the pattern was clear. A business deal to produce a product like toys was made in the US, the manufacturing was done in Mexico, the characters and branding for the toys were Japanese and the people who maintained the office were from Mexico, albeit living in the United States and the product in the end went all over the world.

Now the most popular character for younger children in the world today is Dora the Explorer, who is a character of a child of Latin American descent who is tremendously popular in the US and abroad. Unfortunately her character's toys are not bringing jobs to Mexico despite the cultural links, but are being produced in China. The problem is that this time international politics, the Olympics and suicide in China by one of the top officials in an American toy company surrounds an unclear pattern of how culture, politics and lead paint has produced a scandal that could spark a trade war due to a fictional Mexican girl who is Made in China.

Nearly a month ago it was discovered that many of the Mattel toys coming to the US from Chinese manufacturing plants had too much lead in the paint they used to be suitable for toys for young children. Mattel's apology was appropriate and reasonably responsive and many toy lines were recalled in turn. A rash of criticisms of China abounded in US media after a number of product recalls, included tainted pet food which killed a few unlucky animals and send a mid-level Chinese factory worker to jail as the sole culprit of the poisoned vittles. Then the head of the manufacturer of many of Mattel's products in China, Zhang Shuhong, committed suicide for still unknown reasons linked to the tainted paint scandal.

With much of the enormous US debt due to the Iraq war owned by China and the upcoming Olympic games in Beijing, there has been a small PR war arising out of the product scandals. Despite this, developed countries worldwide are moving from Mexico and the Middle East production of the 1990s to China despite all the criticisms and abuses that are now highlighted post Dora the Explorer.

Ironically, the trend in China is likely contributing to a rise in migration worldwide. While in Mexico since 1994, tourism and Maquilladora manufacturing contributed greatly to the rise in the standard of living and stable growth in the Mexican economy, many argue in the world of Dora and the Chinese economic boom, the main revenue to Mexico now is those sourced from those funds coming from the US from legal and illegal Mexican migrants sending funds back to their relatives in Mexico. It could be that the numbers of migrants are increasing with labour jobs moving to China and persons to the US from Mexico, but also that one of the highest grossing products is also teaching American children Spanish in order to communicate and appreciate those coming to the US like Dora herself. While many of these trends have not yet been clearly defined in academic research, the Dora effect will likely become more prevalent with more debt and scandals surrounding international trade, cultural migration and Dora the Explorer herself.