Toy manufacturer Mattel has apologised for mistakenly printing the web address of an adult site on the packaging of dolls released in tie-up with the new Wicked movie. The company said it was taking “immediate action” in this regard.
Over the weekend, the Wicked film merchandise became a nightmare for the company after people started sharing images of the dolls' packaging on social media, highlighting how it shows a link to 'wicked.com', instead of 'wickedmovie.com', The Guardian reported.
The link was printed on the boxes of Glinda and Elphaba dolls -- the two lead characters in Wicked, played by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in the film adaptation.
Addressing the error, Mattel released a statement on Sunday and said, "Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily sold in the US, which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page".
The company noted that it "deeply regrets this unfortunate error" and was taking immediate action to remedy this. Further, it advised parents 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," the statement added.
It seems that the misprint on the dolls' packaging affected the ones being sold on platforms like Target, Kohls and Amazon, the film's official retail partners.
On Amazon's US website, these dolls have now been listed as “currently unavailable”. The collection included fashion dolls, singing figurines as well as deluxe collectible models.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the entire Mattel-manufactured doll collection was no longer available on Target by Sunday afternoon.
It added that products, having misprinted websites, are present on eBay for sale, anywhere between $100 to $800.
Directed by Jon M. Chu, the adaptation of the popular Broadway musical is all set to hit screens in the US on November 22.
The epic musical fantasy film also features Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum.
