Earlier reports about the company's practice were exploited by different parties in South Africa, with the Congress of South African Trade Unions challenging why the mascot was being made by lowwage Chinese workers while a large number of workers in South Africa remain jobless.

Reports about child laborers and sweatshops in China are not uncommon.

Last month, Apple Inc. admitted that some Chinese factories it had subcontracted to produce its computers, iPods and iPhones had used child labor, some aged 15 and working more than 60 hours a week.

A deadly explosion at a firecracker factory in southern China's Guangxi province in November led to revelations that children under 14 were working there for less than three yuan a day.

Under the Labor Law of the People' s Republic of China, Chinese employees cannot be forced to work more than eight hours a day and overtime must not exceed 40 hours a month.