The marketing machine behind films and television shows is a behemoth. There’s so much merchandising that spews out and some of that has come at a cost to the source material. You may have seen articles online about how sometimes an action figure box might accidentally reveal plot information or characters ahead of time. Well, in the case of the upcoming “Wicked Part 1″ film, let’s say that the boxes for some of the dolls gave a link to a website thats revealing in a different way.
As you may know, the stage musical “Wicked” is receiving a film adaptation. Part of the marketing push involves dolls of the main characters, Elphaba and Glinda. Mattel’s dolls have a box that includes various pieces of information, including a link to website Wicked.com.
Now, if you’re thinking that something like Wicked.com had to have been obtained well before the movie, musical, or toys were made, you’d be right. The official film website is WickedMovie.com. So where does this other link lead? A fairly well-known adult website.
This fiasco was discovered via various posts to social media, which included photos and videos of the packaging.
It was also pointed out other marketing tie-in items such as official LEGO sets and Betty Crocker boxed cakes did not have the same website listed. Which begs the question- how did this happen?
Mattel has issued the following statement confirming the cease of all sales of the dolls:
“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.”
“Wicked Part 1” hits theaters November 22nd.
