NEW YORK — Mattel, the well-known toy manufacturer, has expressed its sincere regret over a significant error found on the packaging of its dolls based on the film “Wicked.” This mistake inadvertently directed potential customers to an adult website rather than the intended official movie site.
The situation came to light over the weekend as social media users began sharing images of the dolls’ packaging, revealing a misprinted URL on the back of the boxes. These dolls are inspired by characters from the highly anticipated movie adaptation of “Wicked,” which is scheduled to premiere later this month. Instead of pointing to Universal Pictures’ official page, the provided link led to a site that features adult content and requires users to be 18 years or older to access it.
Mattel released a statement acknowledging the issue, confirming that they were made aware of the misprint concerning the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily distributed within the United States. The company expressed, “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this.”
While Mattel did not specify if they would be removing any unsold stock containing the erroneous link from retail locations, as of Monday morning, many of these “Wicked” dolls seemed to be unavailable on various platforms such as Amazon and Target.
Meanwhile, the company is recommending that consumers who currently own these dolls either discard the packaging or obscure the misprinted link. They also encouraged reaching out to Mattel’s customer service for further assistance.
Earlier this year, Mattel had excitedly introduced their special “Wicked” doll collection. A promotional post on Instagram in July featured stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who portray Elphaba and Glinda in the upcoming film, experiencing the singing dolls for the first time.
The beloved musical, which has been adapted into two parts for its film version, will see the release of its first chapter on November 22, with the follow-up set to debut in the fall of 2025.