Nobody likes a typo, and if that typo happens to end up being X-rated, there may be an even bigger problem. In a real slip-up, Mattel has popped an adult entertainment website on a whole run of their Barbie toy boxes.
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The promotional run of Barbies for the upcoming Wicked film feature a URL on the back of the box. This site is supposed to be a link for more Wicked-themed toys, but there has been a rather minor mistake with major consequences.
Whoever put the boxes together used the www.Wicked.com URL rather than WickedMovie.com. The former leads the unsuspecting Mattel fans to an adult porn site, while the latter is the intended page. This mistake was discovered by quite a few people, and quickly. However, the damage was done.
Thousands of boxes, filled with toys for children, have now been released. Mattel has inadvertently put out a child toy with an adult porn site link on the back. There isn't much they can do about it but warn the parents. Hopefully, they can cover the link before the kids start looking for more merch.
Keen Eyes Internet Spotted The Mattel Adult Site Slip
The mistake made by Mattel blew up online, with users on X and Reddit pointing out the adult site mistake. A Reddit thread lamented the typo, with some users relating to it quite directly. Apparently, this isn't the first time.
One Reddit user looked back at their past mistake. "In elementary school, I asked my parents for tickets to see Wicked. My dad told me to find them online so he could look and order. Naturally and logically, I typed in "www.wicked.com" into good ol' Internet Explorer. I'm still traumatized 15 years later." Apparently, it isn't just Mattel that has made the mistake. Just more reason to vet your kids online. It's a dark and nasty place for the uninitiated.
As one X user pointed out, there is a lot of quality control this had to go through. There were plenty of people in Mattel who signed off on this adult site URL. They note, "This level of mistake means it has slipped through the designer, their approver, their quality control, and so on. The Swiss cheese aligned just right for the mistake to go through." There may be a little more than just the one firing at the company this week.
