Mattel finds itself in the midst of a messaging screw-up that has the internet talking—and not in a good way. If you missed it, here’s the gist: Mattel’s new Wicked doll line went out with a misprinted URL on its packaging. Instead of taking customers to a kid-friendly page, it led straight to a very adult website. Yikes.
If a mega-corporation like Mattel, with all its resources, can drop the ball this badly, what does that mean for your business?
Rule #1: Crisis Communications Planning is NOT Optional
If you’re serious about protecting your brand, you need a crisis communications plan in place—a real, actionable plan—not just a wishy-washy “we’ll figure it out” approach. When things go sideways—and they eventually will—you don’t want to be scrambling to figure out what to say or do.
Let’s Break Down What Went Wrong for Mattel:
- Sloppy Proofreading: Whoever was responsible for checking that URL didn’t do their job. It’s a simple mistake that anyone could make, sure. But now that the product has hit the shelves, we see how quickly that mistake can snowball into a PR nightmare. The takeaway? Have a process for quality checks for your content that ensures that everything is triple-checked before going out on behalf of your brand. One wrong letter or word, and your brand is suddenly trending for all the wrong reasons.
- Lack of Crisis Preparedness: Mattel had to go into damage control mode after the incident went viral. By then, the damage was already done. An effective crisis communications strategy could’ve helped them mitigate the fallout faster and more effectively with a proactive customer-centric response.
- Customer Trust is Fragile: Parents are understandably furious, conspiracies are running wild, and social media is on fire. Mattel is playing defense. Now, the question is: how long before they regain consumer confidence?
Learn From Mattel’s Mess-Up: Your Crisis Plan Blueprint
- Run a Drill Before the Fire: Have a clear, step-by-step crisis communications plan ready before disaster strikes. Make sure your team knows who’s responsible for what. You won’t have time for second guesses when you’re in the hot seat.
- Own the Mistake Quickly: The longer you wait to respond, the worse it all gets. Get out in front of the narrative before someone else does. Apologize, take responsibility, and outline your next steps to fix it.
- Leverage Your Experts: Don’t have in-house crisis comms pros? Then get someone on retainer who knows their stuff! This isn’t the time to DIY—your reputation is on the line.
At Synaptic, we help brands avoid costly mistakes through a threefold approach. First, our team of seasoned professionals is committed to excellence, leveraging both human expertise and AI-powered tools to ensure precision in everything we create. We partner with clients to proactively prepare for potential crises, building robust strategies before issues arise. And when the unexpected does happen, we provide swift crisis response and long-term support to help our clients safeguard and strengthen their reputations.
For a global giant like Mattel, this error is a setback, but one they’ll likely recover from quickly. However, an incident like this could be devastating for small- to mid-sized businesses. That’s exactly why we’re so passionate about PR Shield—our crisis communications planning tool. It equips you with the tools to safeguard your brand and maintain customer trust, no matter what comes your way.
Want to promote and protect your brand? Let’s connect. If Mattel’s blunder taught us one thing, it’s this: A communications crisis is not a matter of if but when.
