A sparkly silver purse, tucked between a bottle of baby lotion and Infants’ Tylenol at a retailer, sparked a recent viral trend. Denaesha Gonzalez noticed the purse (with the price tag still dangling) in the baby product aisle while out shopping. Assuming someone had put the item back on the shelf in order to prioritize their baby’s needs, Gonzalez posted a video on TikTok last month drawing attention to that anonymous shopper, saying “she deserved the purse.”
The video has since amassed nearly 25 million views. “I don’t think we realize how PROFOUND this work of art is,” one user commented. “A mother’s love on display,” wrote another.
But as with all good things, the feel-good trend swiftly came to an abrupt end.
First, the nice part: Inspired by the original video, TikTok creator Cecily Bauchmann hid a $100 Target gift card between a box of baby diapers alongside a note that reads, “Hey! You deserve that special ‘you’ thing 🙂 You are amazing! Xoxo!” Bauchmann encouraged others to partake in the pay-it-forward trend—now dubbed, She Deserved the Purse—and in the following weeks, hundreds of creators posted videos of hidden gift cards in the baby aisles at Target and other stores.
And this is when things went haywire. TikTok users started joking about going into baby aisles to hunt for the hidden cash. Recent videos posted online appear to show people ripping open diaper boxes and removing the lids from baby formula cans, all in search of gift cards. “This is so sad and so wrong,” one TikTok user wrote. “The worst part is, I work in retail, & those damaged boxes will be marked as do not resale & thrown out due to contamination.”
“Leading to shortages, higher demand, & therefore higher prices,” another commented.
Here lies the problem with posting online about charitable giving for all the world to see. While the pat on the back might make you feel good in the moment, these kinds of posts are often performative at best, and can potentially cause more harm than good at worst, as seen in this instance.
One TikToker, who posted the video of her local store, summed up, “Can’t we just let a good thing be good?” And if we can, let’s keep it to ourselves.
Autentifică-te pentru a adăuga comentarii
Alte posturi din acest grup
The U.S. Defense Department has added dozens of Chinese companies, including ga
A group representing self-driving car companies on Tuesday called on the U.S. government to do m
On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta—the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—will be forswearing its traditional approach to content moderation. In its place, Meta will rel
When Spotify introduced video podcasts, its interface started to look more like TikTok. Now the music streaming giant has added a glorified creator fund.
Over the past 10 years, the aud
It’s hardly a week into 2025, but already people are going pedal to the metal with their New Year’s resolutions. For many, that means committing to working out more, reading instead of scrolling,
In recent years, doctors and patients have reported serious frustration with requirements from insurers for prior authorization before a laundry list of medical treatments and procedures can take