Wicked, indeed! Mattel erroneously printed “Wicked.com” on boxes of their new singing dolls tied to Universal Pictures’ Wizard of Oz prequel film, but the movie’s actual URL is WickedMovie.com, while the other web address leads to an adults-only website.
Visitors to Wicked.com are greeted with a message indicating the page is “Restricted to adults (18+) only” and “displays sexually oriented, including explicit, material of pornographic nature.”
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Mattel is aware of the “misprint,” telling the Associated Press in a statement, “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this.” Details on Mattel’s actions are unclear at the moment, though the AP notes that many of the dolls — primarily sold in the U.S. — were yanked from online stores like Amazon and Target.com. The toy behemoth is telling concerned parents with the original box to toss the packaging in the trash or keep it out of sight of kids; the toys are for children aged four and up.
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The far-right gadfly account known as LibsofTikTok has already tried to weaponize the mistake, insinuating it was somewhat intentional.
While the goof is a nightmare for Mattel, Universal may be pleased at all the publicity generated by the URL. The film, starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Jonathan Bailey, arrives in theaters on November 22.
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