Skims is offering customers a full refund or store credit after backlash over its $150, 12-day advent calendar, and it says the product will not be restocked. The move came by Sunday after shoppers who paid for the holiday item said the contents did not come close to the price.
Kayla Ryan was one of the customers who turned the backlash into a viral complaint, posting a TikTok video over the weekend as she opened the calendar. She said the first box held a plaid teddy bear key ring, the next three contained loose hair ties, scrunchies and pink bobby pins, and one box appeared to have two extra bra straps or headbands. “Are we serious right now?” she said, later adding, “We might be on track for the worst advent calendar I’ve ever opened, and we’re only on No. 4.”
The reaction matters because this was not a random impulse buy. The calendar was sold as a premium holiday item, but customers said it looked like a bundle of inexpensive leftover accessories. Ryan said she expected more value for the money and wished there had been a phone case or cute socks instead. The brand’s response also points to how fast a consumer product can become a public embarrassment once it lands on TikTok and Instagram.
That wider criticism has centered on what shoppers thought they were buying versus what they got. People who followed the backlash said they expected each item to be worth at least $12 on average, while the contents looked closer to low-cost fillers than a luxury holiday set. Amy Odell said celebrity brands are always going to be a flashpoint, and that advent calendars are often designed as marketing opportunities that can still disappoint customers. “It’s like the brands are designing them for social media more so than the customer,” she said.
The unanswered question now is not whether the damage was real; it was. Skims has already said the calendar will not be restocked, and customers who bought it can ask for their money back or take store credit. What remains is whether the backlash becomes a one-off holiday stumble or another reminder that a famous name does not protect a product from being judged item by item.
