Mattel isn’t so “Popular” right now.
The toy company behind Barbie and Hot Wheels is facing backlash for accidentally listing the URL of a porn website in the packaging of its “Wicked” doll boxes.
The merch for the film, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in a two-part adaptation of the Broadway play, includes two dolls based on Glinda (Grande) and Elphaba (Erivo).
On the back of the boxes, there is a link to the website wicked.com.
However, fans noticed the domain is for a porn site, and not the official website for the Universal-produced movie.
The real site for the film is wickedmovie.com.
Hundreds of the Mattel boxes on eBay have the error — though they’re still for sale.
The mix-up was exposed on X (formerly Twitter) by fans who shared photos of the packaging and slammed Mattel for its mistake.
“Hey @Mattel whoever is responsible for your marketing/packaging for the new official Wicked dolls have made a HUGE mistake! The http://wicked.com on your packaging takes you to a porn site!” one person wrote.
“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,” someone else said.
“Oh my dear god, Mattel accidentally listed “Wicked dot com” (porn site) instead of “Wickedmovie dot com” (official site) on the Wicked movie doll boxes. And it seems to be on most of the boxes in the assortment (I just checked on eBay),” a third fan wrote.
Another person tweeted, “Whoever did the Mattel Wicked Dolls packaging is COOKED.”
Somebody else added, “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!”
There is also a Reddit thread about the situation. One user wrote, “Someone is gonna get fired for this.”
“YOOOOO this has to be fixed,” another comment read.
Directed by “Crazy Rich Asians” filmmaker Jon M. Chu, “Wicked” stars Grande, 31, as Glinda the Good Witch and Erivo, 37, as Elphaba, respectively.
The cast also includes Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard, Ethan Slater as Boq, Marissa Bode as Nessarose Thropp, and Peter Dinklage as Dr. Dillamond.
Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel originated the lead roles in the Broadway play that premiered in 2003.
“Wicked” opens Nov. 22, with the second part scheduled for release Nov. 21, 2025.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
