ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Sometimes the internet provides us with a main character, someone or something that people online have become obsessed with. Well, our producer Mia Venkat is very online, and so for my last time on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, she is here to explain to me what the internet is obsessed with this week. Hi, Mia.
MIA VENKAT, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.
SHAPIRO: What is it? Who is it?
VENKAT: OK, so I know you're decently online. But I'm...
SHAPIRO: Decently.
VENKAT: ...Still almost positive you won't know the character this week.
SHAPIRO: Hit me.
VENKAT: It's not a person, but it's an object.
SHAPIRO: OK.
VENKAT: It's the Anthropologie rock.
SHAPIRO: Is that a song, or is that, like, a pet rock? You're really...
VENKAT: OK, all right.
SHAPIRO: I have no idea what you're talking about.
VENKAT: Thank God. OK. So it's not anthropology, like, the field of study. It's Anthropologie, like the store. They sell...
SHAPIRO: Oh, I-E.
VENKAT: ...Homecore - yes. Anthropologie.
SHAPIRO: G-I-E, yeah. Peasant skirts and stuff like that. Yeah.
VENKAT: Sure. The - if you're not familiar with the store, which you kind of are, their products are on the more expensive side for retail chains. And this content creator, Phoebe Adams, posted a video on TikTok unboxing a package in front of her boyfriend saying she just bought this rock, a plain rock, from Anthropologie on sale for $150.
SHAPIRO: On sale.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DAN DILIBERTO: You bought this?
PHOEBE ADAMS: What do you mean I bought this? This is, like, the cutest rock ever. It's going to sit on our entryway table.
DILIBERTO: It's just a - how much...
ADAMS: It's not just a rock. It's a one-of-a-kind rock that they found on the ground.
DILIBERTO: That's where rocks come from.
SHAPIRO: Paint a picture. Is it, like, a colorful rock? Is it a geode?
VENKAT: OK.
SHAPIRO: Is it polished?
VENKAT: So those are all the right questions if it was real. But it was a prank. It's just...
SHAPIRO: (Laughter) Oh...
VENKAT: ...A rock that she found outside.
SHAPIRO: ...My God.
VENKAT: Anthropologie does not sell home decor rocks. And I hate admitting this, but I fell for it, too. I was like...
SHAPIRO: Really?
VENKAT: And then this turned into a trend where all these women started pranking their partners, usually male...
SHAPIRO: They all unboxed Anthropologie rocks.
VENKAT: ...Unboxing these rocks. And - that they purchased from Anthropologie for various ridiculous prices. Here are a couple examples from TikTok users macymoments and samandjessofficial.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I've always wanted this. Do you know how much this is?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: That's where they got that one from.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: This is $850.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: We got it on sale though. We got it on sale.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Mom, it's a rock.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: No, it's the Anthro rock.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: The Anthro rock.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #5: It's a nice rock, and they, like, ethically source it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: What? Ethically source?
SHAPIRO: No child labor digging these rocks out of the dirt.
VENKAT: That's right. Ethically sourced rocks, Ari - come and get them while they're hot.
SHAPIRO: OK, well, why Anthropologie specifically? Why this brand?
VENKAT: Yeah, I thought about that, too. There's a reason it's so believable, right? They clearly have this kind of reputation where it wouldn't be a ridiculous home decor item for this brand to sell. Like, I looked at their website, and they sell a $350 throw pillow, and they have, like, a nearly $600, like, fireplace broom and dustpan.
SHAPIRO: I bet Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop has sold rocks.
VENKAT: Exactly. So it's not an insane thing.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
VENKAT: And so that - I think that's why it took off. It's kind of like when the streetwear brand Supreme had the Supreme-logo brick that they sold. It's, like, of the same genre, I think.
SHAPIRO: Has Anthropologie responded?
VENKAT: OK, they have. And they took kind of an all-press-is-good-press kind of approach to this...
SHAPIRO: Totally.
VENKAT: ...'Cause you can interpret this trend as a joke on them, but they just fully leaned into it. They posted a TikTok where they invited the original girl who posted about it to one of their stores in New Jersey, and they - when they get there, there's a full display in the front selling rocks for, like, $1,000 with price tags and everything.
SHAPIRO: Wow, inflation keeps going up.
VENKAT: And even the employee there, like, fully gaslit the boyfriend.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ADAMS: It's only 1,000.
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: Oh, no, no. They're on sale right now, actually. They're 50% off.
ADAMS: They are?
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: Yeah.
ADAMS: Fifty-percent off?
DILIBERTO: It's literally a rock.
UNIDENTIFIED EMPLOYEE: But we can't...
VENKAT: (Laughter) This poor boy. But I reached out to Anthropologie, and they didn't comment on their overall marketing strategy. But they told me that the rock display in the video was just fully for the video purpose, and they're not currently planning...
SHAPIRO: Actually selling rocks.
VENKAT: ...On selling any rocks.
SHAPIRO: Just proves there's no such thing as bad publicity 'cause here we are on my last day on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED talking about Anthropologie stores.
VENKAT: That's right. And Ari, because it's your last day...
SHAPIRO: Oh, no.
VENKAT: ...I do have something for you.
SHAPIRO: Oh, my God, do I get a rock (laughter)?
VENKAT: I told you I went on a field trip yesterday. It's something special.
SHAPIRO: Oh, but this was ethically sourced, right?
VENKAT: It put me back a couple hundred dollars.
SHAPIRO: Wow. But - oh. Oh. It's a rock that is painted that says the Ari Shapir-ock (ph). Thanks, Mia.
VENKAT: It's a little something.
SHAPIRO: I'm going to treasure this forever.
VENKAT: You know, it's public media. We don't make a ton of money, so (laughter)...
SHAPIRO: NPR's Mia Venkat.
VENKAT: Thank you, Ari.
SHAPIRO: I'm going to miss these conversations.
VENKAT: Me too.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WE WILL ROCK YOU")
QUEEN: (Singing) Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise, playing in the street, going to be a big man someday. You got mud on your face, you big disgrace, kicking your can all over the place, singin' we... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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