Skims Skam: Was Kim Kardashian’s $148 advent calendar a real blunder – or rage-bait?

Since its 2019 launch, Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims has dealt in viral moments. The company has made headlines for selling eyebrow-raising items, like a push-up bra with built-in nipples, a micro thong decorated in faux pubic hair and face-shaping compression gear. Early on, it also faced claims of cultural appropriation.

The brand’s latest internet catnip came over the weekend when influencers were underwhelmed – and angry – while unboxing its $148 luxury advent calendar, which was filled with inexpensive junk like bobby pins, hair ties and loose bra straps.

The discontent mounted quickly. “Are we serious right now?” Kayla Ryan, a content creator, asked in a video she posted on TikTok over the weekend, as she unboxed the various objects – including a plaid teddy bear key ring, endless amounts of bobby pins and a stress-relieving squishy – from large scrunches of clumsily wrapped tissue paper. The backlash inspired hundreds of parodies, some of them skits imagining Kardashian herself packing the calendar with debris from the bottom of her purse. Onlookers online branded it a “Skam.” By Sunday, Skims issued full refunds to all buyers, admitting the product “didn’t meet expectations.”

Then came another form of content – people arguing that the whole thing was a marketing stunt. And since Skims is known for orchestrating viral moments that manage to rage-bait the masses, some people have bought into the theory.

Melissa Alcruz, a brand strategist and chief marketing officer with 35 years of experience building and marketing major brands, can understand the outrage – especially considering that the advent calendar didn’t contain any clothing or underwear that it’s known for.

“It doesn’t feel like a premium Skims experience. It feels like somebody put together a corporate swag bag and called it an advent calendar,” Alcruz told The Independent.

But experts don’t believe this was a marketing stunt, since the company dished out refunds to every customer who had bought a calendar, even if they hadn’t made a complaint.

Adrianna Moore, a brand expert who advises businesses on creative risk, said that Skims has “mastered the art of making controversy commercially valuable,” but there’s a difference between “making people talk about your brand and making customers regret buying from it.” The Independent has contacted Skims for comment.

“Skims has built a business around making people uncomfortable. The problem is that this time, it made its own customers feel stupid,” Moore told The Independent.

“The nipple bra and faux-hair thong were provocative because they were abnormal, whimsical even, and their customers could laugh, criticize, or embrace the absurdity. They got to choose if they bought into it or not,” Moore said. “The problem with the advent calendar is different because it cost them $148 for what looks like the contents of somebody’s junk drawer.”

Moore does not think it is a marketing stunt, and that the saying “any publicity is good publicity” only goes so far.

“A viral unboxing can rack up tens of millions of views, but that doesn’t mean the brand has earned tens of millions of potential customers,” Moore said.

“This probably won’t seriously damage Skims, but it does reveal where the brand is vulnerable,” she added.

Alcruz doesn’t think it was a stunt, either, and she was surprised by the lack of thought behind it.

“Having worked on major product launches, I know these decisions typically involve multiple people. Somebody selects the merchandise, somebody approves the concept, somebody evaluates the pricing and somebody ultimately signs off,” she said.

“I have to believe this concept originated with a relatively junior marketing team, because I find it very difficult to imagine an experienced brand strategist looking at a box of bobby pins and keychains and saying, ‘This is exactly what our customers love about Skims.’”

“If you can’t fill 12 compartments with merchandise that feels worthy of your brand, don’t make a 12-day calendar. Make a three-day calendar. Make a beautiful gift set,” she said.

“Nobody forced you to put 12 things in a box.”