Or so it seemed this weekend, when a series of viral TikTok videos involving an $825 Chanel Advent calendar and the disappointed customer who bought it went viral, inspiring a multitude of users to call foul on the brand.
3, Elise Harmon, a Tiktoker in California, posted a video of herself unboxing a Chanel Advent calendar in the shape of the Chanel No.
Ms. Harmon gave the calendar “a 10 out of 10” for packaging, but she was upset to open a box and discover what appeared to be Chanel stickers.
And so it went with the unboxing over eight more posts, in which Ms. Harmon revealed perfumes , a plastic mini snow globe and … a Chanel dustbag, the bags used for shoes or other accessories.
6, the series has been viewed more than 50 million times, and each post has thousands of comments, mostly along the “you wuz robbed” or “who do they think they are?” lines.
Though Chanel has a TikTok page, it is inactive and set to private, with no followers, so it was unclear where Ms. Harmon had been blocked — she did not respond to requests for comment — but that did not stop her audience from descending on Chanel’s Instagram account, which has more than 47 million followers and which has been posting about the Métiers d’Art show to be held in Paris on Dec.
As for Chanel, it has not publicly addressed the issue, but Gregoire Audidier, the international communication and client experience strategy director at Chanel Fragrance and Beauty, wrote in an email: “The recent claim of a person being blocked by Chanel on TikTok is inaccurate.
Chanel is not, as it happens, the only luxury brand to offer an expensive beauty Advent calendar, though it is the most expensive.
None of them are cheap, and most contain a mix of beauty samples — the mini versions of products often given free with a purchase — and full-size or limited edition offerings.
And the beauty versions are just the latest iteration of the way Advent calendars, invented in the mid-19th century in Germany to teach children about the catechism and spirituality, have been commercialized over the years.
So why has the Chanel version gotten people so het up? After all, luxury brands have never been shy about the fact that, in large part, what their customers are buying is the brand equity itself.
Moreover, Chanel does lay out all the contents of the calendar on its website, so it’s not a secret what anybody is getting for their money.
But because it was new, and because it cost so much, and because it was Chanel, with all the mythology built into the name, the stakes and expectations may have been higher.