As content creators unboxed this year’s Advent calendar from SKIMS, the clothing company founded by Kim Kardashian, their TikTok videos showed an enthusiasm that quickly turned to frustration.
“This is starting to annoy me,” one TikTok creator said while “unboxing” the Advent calendar in a video. “I can get them at Dollar Tree.”
“I’m so angry about this. I could literally go at this all day,” another creator said of the calendar in another TikTok video, while yet another determined that it was “actually the worst Advent calendar ever.”
The calendar is sold out on the SKIMS website, where interested consumers are encouraged to join a waiting list for a future batch of orders. It’s billed as a holiday gift set “featuring twelve days of fun surprises” and “everyday favorites,” according to the website description.
It includes four keychains, various hair ties, bobby pins, and a SKIMS squishy, all exclusive to the box. But customers say it’s not worth the $148 price tag.
SKIMS is part of a growing trend in which brands are transforming Advent calendars from a simple holiday tradition into expensive gift sets that capitalize on the online excitement around unboxing. The social media trend involves creators, as the name suggests, opening boxes of items and trying them on or simply showing them on camera for their followers to see.
Retail expert Trae Bodge, co-founder of the Thread Needle Alley Foundation, says popular toy makers, beauty retailers and brands, and even luxury designers like Christian Louboutin, put premium prices on their own Advent calendars. Although Bodge says the products can be “a great opportunity” for brands to “create an experience” for their consumers, some of their small door sets may not be worth the hype.
“(Louboutin) may make good high heels, but they don’t make a stylish Advent calendar,” Bodge said. “Please don’t waste your money on this.”
Two years ago, Sephora was criticized for its Advent calendar filled with trinkets, which some customers described as “disappointing”.
Now, after online outrage over its Advent calendar, SKIMS announced it will offer customers a refund or store credit. Bodge said other brands might be able to learn a valuable lesson from the controversy.
“With social media being such a big factor in giveaways, you kind of have to think that as a brand, you know, ‘am I creating something that’s going to hold up well on a TikTok?'” Bodge said.
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