Why Chanel's advent calendar got everyone angry

Over the weekend, tiktoker Elise Harmon posted a series of videos that went viral on Chanel's new advent calendar. A 700€ object, which today is sold out on the brand's website, and which has been harshly criticized for its contents: two 1.5 ml miniatures of Chanel perfumes; two christmas tree decorations; two bottles of cream, two lipsticks, two bracelets, two key rings, a 75g soap bottle, a pocket mirror, a ceramic bottle to perfume, a bookmark, a mini-flip book, a "pochette" that is practically a branded mini dust-bag and then mini-pins and Chanel-themed stickers. 

Many TikTok users have compared the contents of the calendar to the gadgets and free samples distributed in boutiques or press events, noting that the value of most items does not really correspond to the overall price of the product. Harmon's videos amassed millions of views in just a few days, especially after tiktoker revealed that the brand had blocked her on social media. The most unexpected thing, however, was the subsequent disappearance of Chanel from TikTok: to date, looking for the brand on social media, you find only an empty profile. Also on Weibo, the main Chinese social media, a similar controversy has erupted, as reported by Jing Daily, which writes how the actual value of the box was estimated at around 2500 yuan, which corresponds to about 346 euros. Meanwhile, the hashtag related to the controversy has reached 46 million views on Weibo.

Wanting to make an immediate comparison, in fact, armani's advent calendar, also dedicated to beauty, includes 6 full-size items (against Chanel's four), 17 mini-size and a mirror but it costs 285€, less than half of Chanel's, and without containing paper gadgets, stickers or magnets. To be honest, however, it must be said that the brand's site lists one by one all the contents of the calendar and therefore, before buying it, the TikToker certainly had to be aware of what it was. Nevertheless, social media users did not take it lightly and invaded the brand's comments section with ironic phrases such as: «800 dollars for stickers and magnets» or «If I ask nicely can I get a Chanel sticker?» while another one commented «Damn y’all bold to keep the comments after the advent calendar».