Whoops, I misunderstood you. Your point was the Playmobil ought to be doing as much as it can to benefit from the current China scare.
I'm a little surprised that Playmobil does next to nothing to promote itself in the states. Playmobil is mass released in Target stores, but still manages its American product line like a specialty toy that upper-end shoppers learn about via word of mouth at the boutique toy store across from Dilliards.
We don't have any TV channels worth watching at my house, but my mum, who is attached to her telly by an umbilical cord, would have told me if PM was running commercials.
Well I wasn't really suggesting Playmobil should trade off Mattel's discomfort, though I'm sure they will benefit. I just didn't know they advertised at all.
Since I got back into Playmobil in August, several local shops I would hope to see Playmobil in don't stock it. Woolworth's seemed to be clearing it off their shelves to make more room for Mega-Blocks, a local department store called Beales has shut down taking its toy department with it (where I first encountered the Roams theme), and TK Maxx only stock odd sets that they seem to pick up in bulk unsold from other companies. ARGOS (a catalogue store) don't stock Playmobil - it's conspicuous by its absense.
This leaves me with three choices apart from the interweb. A 5 mile cycle to Toys'R'Us in Hayes, a bus ride to Kingston (which has proven a much better place to shop for Playmobil with four different stores carrying it), or a journey into Central London for a gander round Hamleys and breakig into a mild sweat at their prices, followed by a trip to John Lewis. Now I've found John Lewis in Kingston, there's no benefit in going to the Oxford Street store.
In Ealing (West London where I live), we now have NO actual toystore apart from the Early Learning Centre. And they wonder why people go shopping elsewhere? It's because unless you want to shop for clothes or mobile phones Ealing has nothing to offer.
Oh Tim, I can't see any "advertised" checkboxes on the UK site, even for the sets I saw advertised. There is a new bit on the right saying "commercial", but it's not clear what it's for - it doesn't change for the sets I saw on TV.
The ads were voiceovers, so they're probably made for German TV and a fresh soundtrack added.
There are quite a few Playmobil ads on TV, the best time is early morning on Channel 5(uk only) when the childrens programmes are on. They are mostly for the modern themes but I have seen Viking and Pirate ones in the past. 
Ah, we probably don't see Ch5 in the early morning. Sonic is on ITV2, and my wife records those - yet she's never noticed a Playmobil ad before.
