“Wicked” Doll Packaging Links to Wrong Wicked Website

Proofreading is Important Especially When You’re Being Wicked.

Some poor packaging creative worker is not going to have a happy Thanksgiving this year. They are likely now under fire due to such gross incompetence at proofreading that it led to the international embarrassment of Mattel, the maker of beloved collectible dolls. When they took the gig, they knew the job was a wicked one. They seem confused about which kind of wicked, though.

Everything winds up on the internet eventually, especially if it’s related to the adult entertainment industry, especially if it does so by mistake.

Thanks to that packaging hire, anyone who visited the URL listed on the boxes (now pulled from shelves) of Mattel’s latest members of the collectible doll community got a big surprise. A very adults only 18+ surprise. A sadistic punster might even say a wicked surprise. Or Wicked surprise. It all depends on the context and which website you visit first.

The new dolls re-envision the Wicked Witch, named Elphaba, and Glinda the Good, named Glinda. In addition to being adorable, they exist to promote the November 22 release of the Universal Pictures’ version of Wicked the Musical. Starring a green-skinned Cynthia Erivo and a pink bubble-riding Ariana Grande, the new movie’s dolls normally cost between $20 and $40.

That was then. This is now.

Currently, they can be found online ranging anywhere from $40 to $2,000.

Why is that you might ask? How does any of this relate to proofreading errors or X-rated businesses? Thanks to the eagle eyes of internet social media users who hang out in the collectible doll aisles, the world learned that the website listed on the dolls’ boxes is an adults-only URL. Instead of listing WickedMovie.com as the film’s official site, the box text abbreviates the URL to Wicked.com.

While this is a simple mistake to make, it is a costly one for Mattel, which has issued a formal apology and is rumored to have had thousands of mismarked dolls removed from store shelves. Just before Black Friday sales. Fortunately, Google Trends analytics tool says Universal Pictures has seen a spike in WickedMovie.com visits even with the bungled tie-in roll out. Also enjoying a happy ending is the “ultimate destination for award-winning adult content,” Wicked.com. Thanks to the free advertising, Google Trends reports that it has had more visits in the past few days than during the height of the studio’s success in 2012.