Mom sues Mattel after 'Wicked' doll exposes child to porn site, alleges 'emotional distress'
A South Carolina mother is suing the children's toy company Mattel, claiming "emotional distress" after her minor daughter stumbled upon a graphic pornography website due to a misprint on the packaging for dolls based on the "Wicked" movie.
Mattel released the dolls to help promote the film, which premiered in late November and is based on the Broadway musical of the same name. Instead of directing consumers to the film's official website, Wickedmovie.com, the boxes for the dolls designed to look like the movie characters directed people to Wicked.com, an adult porn site.
According to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by Holly Ricketson, the mother purchased a "Wicked" movie doll for her daughter on Nov. 11, which Mattel advertised as appropriate for ages 4 and above. After opening the box, Ricketson's daughter used an iPhone to visit the website advertised on the packaging.
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"To her absolute shock, the website, 'Wicked.com,' had nothing to do with the Wicked Doll," the complaint stated. "Rather, Wicked.com pasted scenes of pornographic advertisements across her phone screen."
"These scenes were hardcore, full on nude pornographic images depicting actual intercourse," the document continued. "Plaintiff's minor daughter immediately showed her mother the photographs, and both were horrified by what they saw."
While the company pulled and replaced the errant "Wicked" packaging and apologized for the error, Ricketson lamented that Mattel did not refund consumers like her who had already purchased the doll.
The complaint states the mother never would have bought the doll or she would have paid less for it if she had known the packaging contained the web address for a pornography website.
Mattel, which owns other toy brands, such as Barbie and American Girl, failed in its "duty" to produce an age-appropriate product as advertised, the lawsuit complains.
"Defendant breached this duty by producing a Product that was highly offensive and inappropriate for its intended users," the suit stated. "Defendant knew or should have known that such an oversight in labeling would cause injuries once exposed to its target audience and thus be worthless as an appropriate-to-use Product."
Due to the error, the "Wicked" movie dolls were not "safe" for purchase, according to the complaint, arguing it was "foreseeable" that a children's toy exposing minors to pornographic content would cause injury.
"As a direct result of this breach, Plaintiff suffered injury in that Plaintiff and her minor daughter have experienced emotional distress. Plaintiff has also suffered injury in that she has been deprived of her benefit of the bargain. Plaintiff's injuries were caused in fact by Defendant's breach."
The Christian Post reached out to Mattel for comment on the lawsuit. In response, the company shared the following statement:
"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. 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. We express our gratitude to our consumers and retailers for their understanding and patience while we worked to remedy the issue."
Mattel temporarily pulled the dolls last month and advised consumers who had already purchased the product to discard the product packaging or obscure the link. The company also encouraged people to contact its customer service line.
In October, Mattel responded to a comment on one of its Instagram posts advertising the Elphaba and Galinda dolls. Several users asked if the company knew its line of "Wicked" dolls promoted pornographic content on the packaging.
"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," the company replied.
"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," Mattel added. "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."
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
