Weekend: Yep, Dark Cir cles Are “Sexy” Now 🔥

Your 16-year-old cousin’s favorite prebiotic soda has left an extremely sour taste. Yes, we’re talking about Poppi and the influencer stunt that went very, very wrong. Ahead of its Super Bowl ad debut, Poppi sent massive, blindingly pink vending machines to over 30 influencers. They, in turn, posted videos where they dramatically unboxed the appliances and spent an unfathomable amount of time stocking them. Backlash quickly ensued. Many pointed out that at a time when people are struggling to afford groceries and pay rent, the over-the-top campaign felt…out of touch. The main gripes: Why gift extravagant machines to (ostensibly) rich influencers? Wouldn’t it be more useful, one TikToker asked, to place them where average people could access the machines? And was the cost of delivering them (for just one weekend, no less) really worth it, especially given the influencer industry’s reputation for promoting excess and waste? Though, to be fair, influencers aren’t exactly known for their self-awareness.

Then, to make matters even messier, Olipop (arguably Poppi’s biggest competitor) hopped into the comments sections of some posts, fanning the flames and claiming that each machine cost $25,000 — which, of course, the internet ran with. (For the record, Poppi has refuted that figure, saying it was “inflated by 60%.” So, around $15K.) On Monday, Poppi — which you might recall is facing a class-action consumer-fraud lawsuit — released a statement saying that (a) it did, in fact, place vending machines in public and (b) the ones given to influencers were “loaners” and “never intended for one-time use.” That was followed by an earnest, face-to-camera TikTok from the founder, who promised to “learn and do better” and encouraged the Poppi community to say where they’d like vending machines installed. Neither were the W that Poppi was hoping for (“Did chatGPT write this?” one person commented on the video). Which is all to say, we’ll stick with Diet Coke.