Toy manufacturing giant Mattel apologized over the weekend, after customers noticed a tiny inadvertent advert for a pornographic website printed on some packaging for dolls promoting the new movie "Wicked," which premiered on November 3 and is rolling out in movie theaters in much of the world later this month. 

"Mattel was made aware of a misprint on the packaging of the Mattel 'Wicked' collection dolls, primarily sold in the US, which intended to direct consumers to the official WickedMovie.com landing page," the company said in a statement. "We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this." 

Entering a URL that omits the word "movie" takes users to a rather different, age-restricted website. 

'Discard the packaging or obscure the link'

"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," Mattel said. 

Eagle-eyed consumers had first spotted the misprint, in tiny font on the back of the box, and voiced a combination of amusement and, in some cases, alarm. 

One person called it an "insane oversight" in a post on social media.

Others even implied the mistake might have been intentional, without elaborating on why exactly they suspected that a toy manufacturer would want to anger parents and its customers.

msh/wmr (dpa, open sources)