Thousands of Mattel’s (NASDAQ:MAT) “Wicked”-branded fashion dolls are flying off shelves, but not because of consumer demand.
The toy company has been forced to pull its line of character dolls after a package misprint. Instead of listing the website for Universal’s “Wicked” movie, boxes featured a link to a pornographic website for a group called Wicked Pictures.
“Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel Wicked collection dolls, primarily sold in the U.S., which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page,” Mattel said in a statement. “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.”
Target (NYSE:TGT), Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) had removed the line of “Wicked” dolls from their online storefronts as of midday Monday, as had Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Barnes & Noble and Macy’s (NYSE:M). The products were also being sold at Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS) and DSW, among other retailers. Some sites were still taking action on the listings throughout the day Monday.
MAT shares dropped 23 cents, or 1.2%, to $19.22.