Chanel has denied deleting its TikTok account, after a beauty influencer made fun of the fashion brand’s advent calendar on its site.
The calendar – its first, produced to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Chanel No 5 fragrance – features 27 numbered boxes with luxury items inside, including lipstick, nail lacquer, hand cream and - of course – perfume. But some of the items were, according to TikTok user Elise Harmon, a beauty influencer, less than what one would expect from the $800 (£604) price tag.
In Harmon’s unboxing videos, she exclaims “this is a joke” when she opens one of the boxes to find some Chanel stickers, and “I’m done” when she finds some temporary tattoos. Harmon is similarly underwhelmed when she finds a number of Chanel-branded items (a money clip, a keychain, a badge, a magnet and a plastic snowglobe).
“I’m feeling optimistic. Even though we know how this is going to end,” she proclaims, halfway through opening one of the boxes. The initial video has been seen 14.5m times.
Subsequent TikTok users then claimed Chanel had deleted its official account in reaction to Harmon’s video. They claimed that all content from Chanel’s TikTok page had been wiped and set to private, with users having to send a request to follow the page. But the brand told the Guardian this was not the case.
“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,” said an official spokesperson.
Chanel said it was aware of the comments regarding the advent calendar: “We are sorry that this calendar may have disappointed some people,” it said. “The exclusive content of the calendar has always been fully detailed on our website chanel.com as well as on the packaging of the product: 27 boxes numbered from 5 to 31, containing full-size perfume and makeup products, miniatures and souvenirs all stamped with Gabrielle Chanel’s lucky number.”
On Sunday, Harmon posted a video entitled “When you accidentally cancel Chanel.”
