Advent calendars are the holiday gift that keep on giving. They don’t just build excitement for a joyous holiday season, but whether you are giving or receiving the right advent calendar, it can serve you as the perfect introduction to a new brand or stock your beauty closet with a bunch of new iterations on the market or showcasing a unique twist to their traditional best-sellers.
The thrill of discovering a new mystery gift behind each numbered door is truly indescribable. So, you could imagine the let-down if one of those doors was either empty or filled with a product that didn’t measure up to the level of luxury behind the brand.
Case in point: In a recent TikTok video, a consumer under the username @eliseharmon purchased Chanel’s latest advent calendar valued at AED 3,000. Elise revealed that some of the goodies inside the luxury calendar were items in small boxes containing stickers, keychains, pendants that felt like plastic and many more unexpected gifts.
For those of you who missed the TikTok, here’s what happened.
@eliseharmon I’ll lay everything out and show you all of the contents and you can tell me if you think it’s worth it #chaneladventcalendar
According to TikTok users, Chanel blocked her after sharing more videos regarding the calendar. Another customer shared her honest review on YouTube with a video titled “Chanel Advent Calendar Unboxing Fail! The Most Frustrating, Overpriced $825 Sticker Book.” You can watch the YouTube review below and take a closer look at the inside of the advent calendar.
Chanel responded to the online controversy by revealing to WWD, “This controversy is a bit of a shame because it was not what Chanel intended. Chanel thought it would please some of its customers by offering this type of product. Evidently, we see that you have to be careful, and therefore, in future, we will certainly be much more cautious,” states Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and president of Chanel SAS.
When it came to clearing the rumours that Chanel blocked the TikTok user, Pavlovsky shared, “We have never blocked access to the Chanel TikTok account to anyone because it is simply not active. It has never been activated, no content has ever been published, it has no subscriber and no subscription. The page, therefore, appears empty to anyone who visits it.” Continuing with, “We are very committed to sharing our world and our creations with our followers on social networks. Our pages are open to everyone, and millions of followers follow us all over the world. They are of course free to express their feelings and opinions, whether they are enthusiastic or critical, if they respect the rules of good conduct in accordance with the uses of social networks — no defamation, calls to violence, threats, or intimidation.”
“Certainly, next time, we will think of another way to do this type of thing. I think that certain categories of products may be more suitable, in particular beauty — that could be a great idea. In any case, the objective is to promote our products and not to trigger any controversy, and even less to create frustrations or to send the wrong signals.”
