Gone are the days when a humble Cadbury advent calendar was enough to surprise and delight in the lead-up to December 25.
Now, every brand under the sun has jumped on the festive bandwagon at an increasingly exorbitant cost, only for customers to discover the hefty price tag wasn’t really worth it – lest we forget the furore last Christmas over the Chanel advent calendar, which cost $1300 and was filled with … stickers.
This year, there’s a new sheriff in town that social media users have accused of “scamming” in the form of Dior and its $3500 “Trunk of Dreams” advent calendar.
“For Christmas, La Collection Privée Christian Dior has unveiled an exceptional Advent calendar: a stunning piece, made up of a wooden structure lined with cotton canvas and enhanced with sketches by Pietro Ruffo,” the luxury French fashion house’s website reads.
“24 drawers adorn the facade of the Advent calendar, crafted to reflect the emblematic Dior boutique at 30 Avenue Montaigne. Much more than an Advent calendar, this marvellous, miniature universe is ready to welcome your precious objects and enhance your interior.
“Each drawer numbered 1 to 23 encloses a creation from La Collection Privée Christian Dior.
“For the final day, let yourself be surprised by drawer no. 24: holding an exceptional piece, it houses an ornament scented with the Eau Noire fragrance in tribute to one of the original creations of the Perfumer-Creator Francis Kurkdjian.”
It then goes on to list what’s behind each window, with miniature versions of the brand’s greatest fragrance hits, candles, and bars of soap (seriously), included.
While it sounds like good value (if you can move beyond the fact that, for the same price, you could buy 583 Cadbury calendars), people on Twitter and TikTok are far from impressed.
“Not the Dior advent calendar having a candle in one box then the lid to the candles in another????” one woman wrote in a tweet that’s drummed up close to 60,000 likes.
To which another claimed: “I work in cosmetics management for a huge retail company and I can confirm that every item in the advent calendar, we’ve been giving away for free all year.
“They are just cleaning out their wearhouse (sic) and scamming you all.”
“Did [Dior] not learn from the Chanel advent calendar fiasco last year?!” wrote another. “The audacity!!”
“They’re going to hell omg,” said another.
A TikTok from LA-based influencer Jackie Aina, showing her unboxing the Trunk of Dreams, also had viewers in stitches – particularly over the fact that, yes, one of the windows held a candle and another held the candle’s lid.
“WAIT. Excuse me, they dedicated a whole advent calendar day for a lid for your candle,” one commented, to which someone replied: “I would want a refund just because of that.”
“Nah Dior we expected more – literally,” said another.
“$3500 for soaps and a lid they are high,” joked a third.
“The lid by itself would have me filing a complaint for real,” commented another.
I don’t know about you, but if I paid $3500 for an advent calendar and got … a bar of soap and a candle’s lid, my inner Ebenezer Scrooge would be making an appearance.”
Originally published as ‘Scamming you’: Fury over Dior’s $3500 advent calendar
