The Recall Desk
HighCPSC·24166·Announced 2024-03-21

Culture Kings Sneaker Basel Magnetic Levitation Displays Recalled for Laceration and Ingestion Hazards

Culture Kings is recalling approximately 4,300 Sneaker Basel Magnetic Levitation Displays sold online from July 2020 through January 2023. The high-powered magnets can break and cause lacerations, or be swallowed and lodge in the digestive system, risking serious injury and death.

What this means for you

Real risk of harm even if no illness or injury has been reported yet. Stop using the product and follow the agency's guidance.

Our severity reasoning: The recalled displays pose a serious ingestion hazard that could result in intestinal perforation and death if magnets are swallowed, meeting the rubric criterion for high-risk, risk-of-harm products. While no fatalities or serious injuries have been reported from the ingestion hazard, four minor injuries were documented from magnet shattering.

Plain-English summary

Culture Kings has recalled about 4,300 Sneaker Basel Double Magnetic Levitation Displays (Models CXF-22 and CXF-24B). These decorative displays showcase floating sneaker pairs using high-powered magnets and LED lighting, sold online at culturekings.com between July 2020 and January 2023 for $68 to $260.

The displays present two hazards. The high-powered magnets can forcefully attract each other, causing them to break, splinter, and emit sparks—creating a laceration risk. More seriously, if multiple magnets are swallowed accidentally or intentionally, they can attract each other in the digestive system, becoming lodged and causing intestinal perforations, twisting, or blockage that can lead to infection and death.

To date, Culture Kings has received one report of magnets colliding and shattering during use in the United States without injury and seven reports from Australia of similar incidents, including four minor injuries. The potential for serious harm from ingestion remains largely unrealized in reported incidents.

Affected consumers should immediately stop using the displays and contact Culture Kings for a full refund. When handling magnets, keep them at least six inches apart and do not attempt to separate magnets that have come together. Culture Kings will provide recall stickers for placement on each magnet. Consumers must destroy the display (by cutting the power cord), upload photographic documentation to the recall website, and discard the magnets and display after receiving their refund.

The recalled product

Product
Sneaker Basel Double Magnetic Levitation Displays
Manufacturer
Culture Kings USA Inc., of San Francisco, California
Category
Consumer Product — Home Decor / Novelty Display
Hazard
  • laceration
  • magnet-ingestion
  • intestinal-perforation
Affected units
4,300

Distribution

Distributed nationwide across the United States.

Related recalls

Same category