Mattel Inc MAT can add an unfortunate website error on the boxes of its "Wicked" dolls to the list of recent negative news.
What Happened: In addition to the toy company worrying about higher tariffs under President-elect Donald Trump and a third-quarter revenue miss, its packages of “Wicked” dolls have to be recalled.
Mattel recently released "Wicked" dolls resembling the characters played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in the upcoming film, which is set for a Nov. 22 release.
Due to an unfortunate error, the boxes of these dolls featured the wrong website. Following the link would send people to an adult entertainment website instead of the appropriate website for the "Wicked" movie, as reported by Deadline.
"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 shared by Deadline. "We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this."
Mattel said parents who bought the dolls should "discard the product packaging or obscure the link." Parents are told they should contact Mattel Customer for more information.
Users on social media pointed out the error, which linked to the movie website associated with Wicked Pictures, an adult film company founded in 1993. Wicked coincidentally became one of the storylines in Donald Trump's hush money trial. The company hosted a celebrity golf tournament where Trump previously met adult actress Stormy Daniels.
While Mattel is likely to send out new versions of the dolls with the corrected website, boxes that have not been discarded have already found their way onto auction site eBay.
Read Also: Toying With Expectations: Mattel’s Q3 Miss Leads To Price Target Tweaks
Why It Matters: For Mattel, the timing could be bad for the negative news surrounding the company's dolls which are aimed at children and had the rather unfortunate error.
Toy companies could suffer from higher tariffs with Trump taking over the White House in 2025. The big question will be if Mattel passes the higher costs onto consumers or takes a hit on margins.
Benzinga recently shared that Mattel was one of the worst-performing S&P 500 stocks during Trump's first year in office back in 2017. The stock was down 44% on the year.
Mattel's recently reported third quarter saw the company miss revenue estimates from analysts while beating earnings per share. Analysts cut price targets after the report.
While Mattel could suffer a negative fate from "Wicked," movie studio Universal Pictures hoping for a brighter future.
"Wicked" releases in theaters on Nov. 22 and has seen strong pre-sale ticket sales and has high expectations. An estimate from Boxoffice Pro says the movie could open to $100 million to $125 million domestically. This would be one of the higher opening weekend for the year.
The upcoming film is the first of two parts to the "Wicked" story.
Universal’s parent company, Comcast Corporation CMCSA, currently has three of the top 10 grossing movies domestically in 2024. They include "Despicable Me 4," "Twisters" and "Kung Fu Panda 4" ranking third, sixth and eighth respectively. A strong open from "Wicked" could give the studio another top 10 hit for the year.
Price Action: Mattel stock trades at $19.63 versus a 52-week trading range of $15.87 to $20.60. Mattel stock is up 4.6% year-to-date in 2024.
Comcast stock trades at $44.24 versus a 52-week trading range of $36.43 to $47.11. Comcast stock is up 1.3% year-to-date in 2024.
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Image: Wicked Trailer
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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