Toy retailer Mattel Inc. is facing charges from a mother for mistakenly printing a pornography website to the newly released toy packaging of hit musical Wicked.
A report by Sky News said on Wednesday, December 4, that a lawsuit has now been filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the mother, Holly Ricketson, who said to have bought the dolls for her daughter.
According to Ricketson, her daughter visited the website printed on the toy packaging but was redirected to a pornography website instead after the company mistakenly left out the word “movie” in the website’s URL. Wicked movie’s official website is WickedMovie.com
Following the incident, the toy manufacturer apologized to Ricketson, calling it an “unfortunate error.” It said it immediately recalled all distributed Wicked toys and corrected the packaging mistake.
“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 said in a statement in November.
”We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised 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,” it added.
Following the correction, Wicked dolls are now back on sale in retail stores.
However, the lawsuit stated that the pornography website printing was an inexcusable error on the toy company’s part and that Ricketson would have not bought the doll if she had known about it.
The lawsuit sought Mattel to pay at least $5 million or £3.94 million in damages for anyone in the US who bought Wicked dolls with the error on the packaging.
It also accused the toy manufacturer of negligence, selling products unfit for sale, and violating California consumer protection laws.
Ricketson also claimed that she did not receive a refund from the company.
The Wicked movie arrived on November 22 as the first part of an adaptation of the beloved stage play. It debuted to strong box office numbers, raking in as much as $164.2 million globally in its opening weekend.
Following the movie’s official screening, the toy company released dolls of characters played by British actress Cynthia Erivo and US singer Ariana Grande.
Mattel recommended the dolls for children aged four and up.
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