Toy manufacturer Mattel has pulled all of its ‘Wicked’ dolls for sale at retailers after the packaging mistakenly listed the URL of an adult entertainment site instead of the official domain for the film. Whoops!
‘Wicked’, the new film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, is set to release worldwide on November 22nd. However, merchandise for the film, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, is already on sale, and hundreds of concerned parents are already online pointing out the NSFW error in its packaging.
The back of the Mattel dolls’ packaging lists the website wicked.com. Just one problem with that; the domain belongs to an adult entertainment site, not the film’s official website, which is actually wickedmovie.com.
Mattel immediately reacted by pulling the toys from retailers and apologising in a statement:
“We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information.”
I mean, can you imagine being a parent who gives your kid access to your phone to visit the website on the back of a toy box, only to have it direct them to a porn site? Absolute PR disaster for Mattel.
What I want to know is how something like this happens in the first place? Well, I suppose the packaging design gets passed through a whole load of people and departments, and someone must have put that link there as a placeholder. They just neglected to change it before the packaging production began!
On the flip side, these boxes are going to be collectors’ items now since all the unsold ones will likely be destroyed. And just imagine the traffic that website is getting over this mistake! Hopefully not from minors, mind. Either way, someone at Mattel is getting fired this week. That’s for sure.
For the kids cactus toy that was removed from shelves because it sang in Polish about doing cocaine, click HERE.
