Certain Black Friday shoppers are vowing revenge upon Target after waiting in the freezing cold for disappointing "swag bags." The superstore chain lured customers out at in the wee hours of the morning by promising the first people in line a mystery bundle of gifts in their shiny Target tote bags...only to get dragged on TikTok.
They should have gone to Lowe's instead.
Another reason to stay home on Black Friday
While Black Friday used to be a huge deal in the U.S., younger generations have increasingly ignored the capitalist's favorite holiday, feeling that the deals are no longer worth getting out of bed for. Online shopping and the extension of the sales all the way to "Cyber Monday" also reduced the Friday morning crowds.
Some retailers tried to boost in-store sales this year by offering giveaways to the first customers through the doors. Target teased swag bags for the first 100 shoppers at each location, with 10 bags containing special prizes worth up to $350.
Those 10 customers may have felt it worth waiting in the freezing cold hours before the sun rose, but the other 90 were often left grumpier than ever.
"Oh, Target, count your f*cking days," said TikToker @sebastianregium in his reveal video, which gained 2.9 million views in less than a week.
He heard about the Black Friday giveaways at both Target and Lowes and showed up at the superstore at 3:30 a.m. to grab his spot in line. Turns out, he should have gone hardware shopping. He waited two and a half hours for the store to open only to walk away with his swag bag saying, "I'm pissed."
"You're telling me that people waited in the freezing cold for a single dose of Perfect Hair dry shampoo, a packet of electrolyte drink mix—a three pack, a pack of Uno cards, and, my last two items, some Nerds candy and this disgusting ugly f*cking shade of Elf glow reviver."
This wasn't a unique experience. TikToker @gah.damn.its.cam got exactly the same thing in his bag, showing them to the camera in a pretty empty looking Target. At least he got 8.1 million views out of it.
"I am speechless," he concluded.
"We're watching the downfall of a major company"
Not everyone had a bad time in the pre-dawn Targets last Friday. Unboxing TikToker @ebony.influences was one of the lucky 10 percent who won a special prize—a Ninja SLUSHi machine.
"The way I crashed out in the store is highkey embarrassing, but baby, I have no care in the world because I did not just win any prize," she said.
Of course, compared to the SLUSHi, everything else in the bag was a big "nobody cares."
Some watching the overwhelmingly negative reactions to the Target Black Friday bags predicted that this would make the company's 2025 struggles even worse.
"We're watching the downfall of a major company, all over a swag bag," laughed @warcrypod.
"Y'all gonna have them wait outside, in the freezing cold in some of these areas, just for y'all to give them gummy clusters?"
Meanwhile, Lowes was doing it right. The hardware store chain was giving out buckets of swag, with one in six containing an actual golden ticket that gave away up to $2,000 in free appliances.
TikToker @locolexy filmed herself winning one of these, and when she revealed her ticket, the workers clapped and set off confetti poppers for her.
Now that's how you make a customer happy.
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