It’s one thing to get pranked by your partner just for fun—it’s another for an entire multi-billion-dollar company to be in on it. This is what happened to husbands and boyfriends across the country when their partners pretended to buy a rock from Anthropologie. The practical joke has reached a fever pitch on TikTok—and the poor gaslit men are none the wiser.
Boyfriend gets pranked
It all started earlier this month when TikToker Phoebe Adams (@phoebeadams112) pretended to receive a package from apparel and home store Anthropologie. In the clip, she “unboxes” the rock as her unsuspecting boyfriend, Dan, watches.
“Wait, you bought this?” Dan asks, incredulous. Adams responds that it’s the “cutest rock ever.”
“It’s not just a rock; it’s a one-of-a-kind rock they found on the ground,” she tells him.
“That’s where rocks come from!” he replies.
“It was on sale,” she tells him before dropping the bomb: “It was $150.” At this point, Dan’s hand flies to his forehead as he says, “Oh my god.”
The clip ends with Adams placing the rock on the entryway table as decor.
What’s the Anthropologie Rock trend?
Adams’ clip earned 11 million views since it’s upload on Sep. 14, kicking off a new trend on TikTok. Girlfriends, wives, and even daughters began pranking the men in their lives with the famous “Anthropologie rock.”
Their reactions were always priceless.
In one clip, a dad walked off to find a nearly identical rock he found on the ground to prove a point. In another, a woman “gifts” her mom the rock as her dad watches, dumbfounded. One man told his wife Anthropologie owed her an “apology” for having her spend money on a rock.
In most videos, the men are shocked and speechless that their loved ones would be duped into buying an ordinary rock they could find themselves if they just walked outside. If only they knew the prank was about to get even more elaborate.
Anthropologie responds
As any good marketing strategist would tell you, lean into the joke–which is exactly what the store known for its exorbitant prices did. On Saturday, Anthropologie posted a video on its social platforms advertising their new “rock collection,” complete with 50%-off prices.
The video shows a rock display inside a store with the sign reading, “100% organic locally sourced. Only at Anthro!”
Then an employee lifts a rock and shows the price tag: a whopping $1,000 American Dollars. Their marketing worked: the video received over 4.5 million views in just a few days. But while many viewers who were in on the joke laughed in the comments section, some who were less chronically online were baffled (as they should be.)
“Am i getting trolled?” one user commented on the Instagram post, while another asked whether it was a “joke.”
Still, despite folks being in on the joke, many pointed out that it wouldn’t be too far fetched if Anthropologie decided to sell rocks. The store is known for their oddities and bizarre home decor with sky-high prices to match.
“I wouldn’t put it past anthro to charge $1000 for rock,” one user commented on Instagram. Another echoed, “Hard to be satire when I could believe Anthro really doing this, though.”
@phoebeadams112 His full on crash out at the end HAHA
♬ original sound – Phoebe Adams
Dan can’t catch a break
It seems the Rock Collection wasn’t all just for a video, though. In a follow-up clip posted on Saturday, Adams takes Dan to their local Anthropologie to show him the rock collection.
“Oh my god, Dan, the Anthro rocks. They’ve restocked,” Adams says as they walk into the store. Dan throws up his hands in the air and points at the rock table before saying, “There’s no way this is real.”
It might not be real, Dan, but the fun we’re all having seeing you boys scramble sure is.
The Mary Sue reached out to Adams and Anthropologie’s parent company via email.
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