One furious mother has launched a class action lawsuit against toy giant Mattel after her daughter followed disgusting directions printed on the back of a doll’s box.
According to the class action suit, the South Carolina mom bought the doll on or around November 11.
The doll, portraying a character from the Broadway musical-turned-movie “Wicked“, is one of many toys and products inspired by the film’s upcoming release that is filling store aisles during peak Christmas shopping time.
Unfortunately, Mattel made a big mistake in the doll’s packaging.
The back of the box provides kids with a web URL to visit, but instead of directing curious children to a website about the movie or toy, the web address sends them to hardcore pornography.
Mattel accidentally released official #Wicked dolls that link to a porn site
The URL was supposed to be ‘Wickedmovie’ but instead just says ‘Wicked’ and leads to a site requiring users to be 18 or older pic.twitter.com/Zf0Oq73G7j
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) November 10, 2024
The lawsuit explains what happened after the plaintiff’s minor daughter was given the new doll.
“After opening the box that contained the Wicked Doll, Plaintiff’s minor daughter used an iPhone to visit the website shown on Defendant’s packaging.”
Should this lawsuit go forward?
What she was directed to is alarming.
“To her absolute shock the website, ‘Wicked.com’, had nothing to do with the Wicked Doll. Rather, Wicked.com pasted scenes of pornographic advertisements across her phone screen.”
The correct website is “WickedMovie.com”, which directs users to the movie’s official page.
The filing describes the scenes as “hardcore, full on nude pornographic images depicting actual intercourse” and other disturbing imagery. Both mother and daughter were left horrified by the misprint.
The toys were pulled from shelves and correct packaging issued.
Mattel issued a carefully-worded statement to Entertainment Weekly after refusing to comment on the pending litigation.
“The Wicked Dolls have returned for sale with correct packaging at retailers online and in stores to meet the strong consumer demand for the products,” Mattel said.
“The previous misprint on the packaging in no way impacts the value or play experience provided by the product itself in the limited number of units sold before the correction.”
The suit alleges Mattel unjustly enriched itself by selling “misleading” and “worthless” products.
Other counts brought by the lawsuit include negligence, violation of warranties and breaking of multiple California state legal codes.
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