After much anticipation, the movie adaptation of the musical Wicked is finally around the corner. With just days until its theater release, doll boxes for the movie have been in circulation in stores nationwide. Unfortunately, consumers noticed something NSFW on the packaging causing a ruckus online.
Mattel, the famous toy company behind Barbie, released a doll collection for the film starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. The merch contains two dolls based on the stars characters — Grande’s Glinda and Erivo’s Elphaba. On the box of the product, the url “wicked.com” is written. Unfortunately, fans soon noticed that the domain name leads to a porn site rather than the official website for the movie. Instead, the original site for the film is “wickedmovie.com.” Given that dolls would most likely be for children, parents online wasted no time exposing the mix-up on social media. “Oh damn, Mattel. This isn’t gonna end well. The Wicked dolls have the URL of a PORN SITE on the back of the box,” one fan wrote, bringing the error to the limelight.
In no time, many more people attested to the blunder. Another angry fan wrote, “Mattel, I was so excited after I bought your toy, and when I went to wicked.com to see more wicked products, I was met with hardcore pornography!! This is unacceptable!!! I expect reimbursement!”
Per The New York Post, several of the toy boxes have been sold, and hundreds more, carrying the porn website, remain for sale on eBay. Some fans have also claimed that their local Target shops still carry the defective product.
Company Behind ‘Wicked’ Doll Issues Apologies For Mix-up
Following the backlash, Mattel released a statement, issuing an apology for the grave blunder. “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this,” the toy company wrote. They continued, advising parents to be aware of the “not appropriate” website on their product. “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 message concluded, per People Magazine.
Despite the company taking accountability for its actions, fans think the website wasn’t a silly oversight. Instead, they think it was done intentionally to draw more attention to the movie with controversy.
“Putting my tinfoil hat on and saying r/theyknew,” one fan on Reddit theorized. “This gets them free awareness for the movie and merchandising. Can’t pay for virality this good.”
“The amount of hilarious nonsense with this movie makes it seem like they know it’s mid as f*** and need as much PR as they possibly can,” another comment read.
”Mistakenly? I don’t think so…it was done on purpose,” a third fan declared.
”Hell no, I feel like that was no mistake.. whoever did that needs to be fired,” a fourth comment read.
Wicked is directed by filmmaker Jon M. Chu, who is behind Crazy Rich Asians. The project will be released in two parts, with the first part airing on November 22. The second is scheduled for release on November 21, 2025.
