Chanel says it will be 'much more cautious' with products in the future after its $825 advent calendar was criticized on TikTok

• Chanel has responded to the backlash surrounding its $825 advent calendar that's gone viral.
• The brand said it will be more careful in the future, and that its calendar is a collector's item.

Chanel has responded to the backlash surrounding its $825 advent calendar that's filled with items like stickers and string bracelets.

Bruno Pavlovsky, the president of the French fashion house, spoke with Women's Wear Daily about the limited-edition item, which was created to honor the 100th anniversary of Chanel's No.5 perfume. He said the controversy has been "a bit of a shame," and was "not what Chanel intended."

Representatives for Chanel did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"Chanel thought it would please some of its customers by offering this type of product," Pavlovsky told WWD. "Evidently, we see that you have to be careful and therefore, in future, we will certainly be much more cautious."

Pavlovsky went on to note that the advent calendar wasn't intended to be sold to a large audience. It was instead offered in limited quantities and sold out immediately, despite its high price tag.

As Insider previously reported, the calendar — which was shaped like a bottle of Chanel No.5 — came with 27 items in mystery boxes for buyers to unpack between December 5 and December 31.

Photos of the items were posted on the brand's website as far back as October, revealing that the product mainly contained miniature beauty products like body creams and lipsticks, as well as bracelets and Christmas ornaments, which are not typically sold by Chanel.

But as many have noted on social media, advent calendars are meant to be a surprise, so some chose not to look at the calendar's contents before purchasing.

TikToker Elise Harmon, however, says she purchased the calendar in a Chanel store — where she says the featured products were not displayed — and posted now-viral videos of herself opening it on various days. In one video, after noting that the box labeled day nine looked "promising," Harmon opened it on camera and found a small sheet of stickers inside.

In the same video, she said she was "disappointed" and opened another box to cheer herself up. Though she got a hand cream that she said she's "obsessed" with, she said she was let down again one day later.

She posted another video of herself opening a different box that contained a dust bag — a product that's typically given to customers for free when they purchase luxury items.

Her initial TikTok featuring the calendar, which was posted on Thursday, has been viewed more than 15.6 million times at the time of writing. Days later, she posted another video in which she said that Chanel blocked her on TikTok.

In a statement sent to WWD, Chanel said it has "never blocked access" to the Chanel TikTok page for anyone, and that the page isn't used by the brand. Harmon did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

"It has never been activated, no content has ever been published, it has no subscriber and no subscription," Chanel's statement read. "The page therefore appears empty to anyone who visits it."

"When Ms. Harmon visited our page, she naturally found the usual message that she could not access this account, just like anyone else on the network," the statement added.

The fashion house's statement went on to say that it's committed to sharing content across social media, and that its pages are "open to everyone" to view. Chanel's statement also said its followers and viewers are "of course free to express their feelings and opinions, whether they are enthusiastic or critical," as long as they "respect the rules of good conduct" and don't feature "defamation, calls to violence, threats, or intimidation."

Finally, Chanel's statement said it's "sorry that this calendar may have disappointed some people," but that because it is a "unique design" with "original content," that makes it "a true collector's item whose value cannot be summed up by the products it contains alone."