We are now only a couple of weeks away from the release of the new Universal Studios musical Wicked, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. And with any great film comes a wide variety of merchandise for fans and casual viewers alike.
Mattel, who are responsible for making Wicked dolls, issued an apology after the doll boxes were found to lead to a non-child-friendly website.
The movie is child-friendly
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The story is a prequel to the iconic The Wizard of Oz. Wicked follows the misunderstood witch Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, who forms an unexpected friendship with fellow student Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, while attending the prestigious Shiz University.
The two characters eventually take wildly different paths in life.
Promo for the movie has been rolling in
For weeks now, posters and advertisements have been appearing all around the world as part of the promotion plan for the musical.
The two stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have also been attending a variety of interviews to promote the movie.
The dolls are part of that promo
The dolls are made by Mattel — the company responsible for Barbie and Hot Wheels — as part of the promotion for the musical.
They are meant to build up hype and excitement leading up to the musical’s release on November 22.
The toys were out on the shelves
The Wicked toy line features doll versions of Glinda, Elphaba, Nessarose, Madame Morrible, and Fiyero. They anre available for purchase in all the usual places, such as Target, Walmart, and Amazon.
They are currently listed at $39.99.
The dolls are clearly for kids
Wicked, like its parent story The Wizard of Oz, is a story aimed at children, as well as adults. Parents must have been excited to buy their kids dolls of their favorite characters.
There must have been no doubt that the toys would only be age-appropriate and suitable for children to play with, right?
The doll boxes had a major typo
Unforunately, a major printing mistake was made at the back of the Wicked doll boxes. The URL listed leads to an adult site instead of the landing page of the website made for the musical.
For many, this was discovered through a now-viral post written by a shopper on X (formerly Twitter).
The shopper and social media user was right
Turns out, the URL at the back of the box which was supposed to lead to a ‘PG’ website just like its movie rating, did not. Instead it led to a restricted 18-and-over-only website.
This wasn’t only on the shopper’s doll, but on other Wicked dolls as well.
The link was meant to lead to the movie’s website
As this typo was found on other doll boxes, the poster speculated that the company meant for the URL to link to www.wickedmovie.com, the musical’s official website.
Mattel has addressed the situation and acknowledged in a statement that it was, as speculated, a big mistake.
Mattel gave a statement
In speaking with UNILAD, the toy company said, “Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily sold in the U.S., which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page.”
The company stated intentions on fixing it
“We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this,” Mattel said before adding, “parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children.”
They advised further that “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.”
