'Wicked' Paris Image Puzzles Fans—'What Is Their Marketing Budget'

The stars of Wicked are currently on the promotional trail, which is seeing various marketing stunts implemented to help promote the upcoming movie.

Now fans have expressed their shock—and questioned the film's marketing budget—after it looked like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris was lit up with pink and green lights in celebration of Wicked.

Wicked has been adapted from the acclaimed Broadway musical of the same name, a backstory to The Wizard of Oz that explores the origins and friendship of two iconic witches: Elphaba, who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the Good Witch.

The cast features Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba alongside Ariana Grande as Glinda . Also among those starring are Ethan Slater as munchkin Boq , Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Michelle Yeoh as headmistress Madame Morrible and Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard. Split into two parts , the first film is set to be released on November 22 .

Now a post has gone viral on X, formerly Twitter , that seems to show the Arc de Triomphe in all its glory. X user reshared a clip of the monument from the account and added : "sorry what is their marketing budget."

At the time of writing, the post had been viewed 9.8 million times.

Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Wicked for comment on Friday outside of normal business hours.

Another person on the platform, with the handle suggested that such a stunt wouldn't cost the film much money at all.

"It's just two colored gels and a permit, the lights are already there," he wrote, to which responded: "the set up would be the least expensive part, the most expensive would be the hiring of the arc as it generates so much in foot traffic and tourism, I wouldn't be surprised if they charged out the arse for it."

However, X user has suggested that the video is fake, writing: "and it's just not a thing the city of Paris would do, cause this isn't real."

In a follow-up post they added: "I live in France, if that were true it'd be on french social media and news outlet too."

The Wicked movie has launched a marketing blitz ahead of its release, which has included themed Starbucks beverages, Erivo and Grande popping up at various events and product tie-ins related to the film.

Mattel found itself in hot water earlier this week after it released dolls of the movie's main characters. Instead of featuring the address of the movie's website—wickedmovie.com—the packaging only includes the word "wicked," which leads consumers to an address for a porn site.

Visitors to the listed website are taken to a landing page warning the content "displays sexually oriented, including explicit, material of a pornographic nature," and that access is "restricted to adults (18+) only."

After social media users shared photos and video footage of the erroneous website listing, a spokesperson for Mattel told Newsweek that they "deeply regret" the misprint.

"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 statement read.

"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. 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."