Mattel was sued on Tuesday by a South Carolina mom for mistakenly placing a hyperlink to a pornographic web site on packaging for dolls tied to the blockbuster film Wicked.
In a proposed class-action filed in federal courtroom in Los Angeles, Holly Ricketson mentioned she had purchased a Wicked doll for her daughter, who then visited an grownup leisure web site by the hyperlink offered by the toymaker.
Ricketson mentioned her daughter confirmed her hardcore images from the web site and each had been “horrified” by what they noticed, struggling emotional misery.
The plaintiff mentioned she wouldn’t have purchased the doll had she identified of the error, and Mattel has not provided refunds regardless of recalling the dolls on 11 November.
Mattel declined to touch upon the lawsuit however mentioned in an announcement that gross sales of Wicked dolls with right packaging had resumed in shops and on-line. It has expressed remorse for the error.
The toymaker, primarily based in El Segundo, California, had supposed to hyperlink purchasers to the WickedFilm.com web site, to not a equally named web site for folks no less than 18 years previous.
Mattel recommends the dolls for kids aged 4 and up.
Tuesday’s lawsuit seeks no less than $5m in damages for folks within the United States who purchased Wicked dolls whose packaging included the errant hyperlink.
It accuses Mattel of negligence, promoting merchandise unfit on the market, and violating California consumer-protection legal guidelines.
