A CVS shopper was dismayed to find, in her words, scent beads locked behind a case during a recent trip to get laundry supplies.
Based on the presence of CVS brand Total Home in the short TikTok video by creator @suecleansit, it appears that the video was recorded inside a CVS, though the creator didn’t specify where.
Proving there’s an audience for everything on TikTok, her account focuses primarily on what kinds of cleaning supplies she finds in the wild while shopping. The video went up Friday and has already drawn more than 298,000 views as of Saturday.
The caption reads, “I want to know why the scent beads are more protected than the detergent and fabric softener,” with the additional plea to the universe, “Make it make sense.”
The clip then shows the display case with two bottles of Downy Unstopables Booster Beads locked behind a plastic barrier, and the creator’s finger on the customer service button, presumably to request access.
@suecleansit I want to know why the scent beads are more protected than the detergent and fabric softener 😂 make it make sense #laundrysupplies #laundryrestock #scentboosters #scentbeads ♬ The Ghetto – Reality Tv City
The on-screen caption reads, “POV: You’re trying to do a haul but the scent beads are locked up like Akon”—a reference to the pop icon’s 2004 hit “Trouble.”
The comments started with someone who appreciated the Akon reference.
“Not Akon LOL,” said one.
Sue responded, “I think I aged myself with that one.”
One person had a theory for why the scent beads were so precious. “People stole lots of laundry detergent to resell then on eBay,” adding, “Inside Edition did something about this on [their] news even tho I am British.”
Another wondered, “I will never understand them locking items under $10 like why?”
Someone responded to that, “There used to be a trend of eating these. Lots of ppl ‘advertised’ eating washing pads. So to prevent everyone from eating it, they lock them up.”
That commenter might have been referring to the Tide Pods Challenge, a 2018 trend that the Daily Dot called “a terrible trend in which teens dare each other to actually eat laundry soap.” The article noted that, “Very few people are actually doing it, but the chance that a kid could take things too far has led YouTube to start removing Tide Pod Challenge videos.”
Several commenters thought this was taking security too far.
“Lmao every store in my area is like this,” one remarked.
Sue responded, “Fr, that’s why I usually do store pickup.”
She’s not the first to go to TikTok to express frustration at stores that lock consumer goods in cases. In June, a TikToker railed against Target for locking up beauty supplies, saying she refused to shop for them as a result of the policy. In May, a TikToker showed a CVS that had its entire alcohol section barricaded and locked.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to CVS via email.
