Conspiracies’ are right under our noses, apparently. From flat earthers to the “moon landing hoax,” I’m sometimes in true disbelief at what people will come up with when there’s perfectly good evidence stating otherwise. A Utah TikToker is now spreading a conspiracy concerning Walmart that has most people rolling their eyes, and others showing concern. But, when it comes down to it, is there any truth to what she has to tell us?
A video shared on r/TikTokCringe shows a man talking about the original video, which was shared by Kenz (@existingtothrive on TikTok). She looks all-knowing as she explains Walmart has a little girl’s lavender butterfly dress listed for $1,000 on their app. “What’s interesting though, is that you can only find these dresses if you look up the shop,” she states. She then shows other listings for the shop, named JUSLIO.
As Kenz scrolls down JUSLIO’s listings, she shows only the company’s little girl dresses are listed for enormous prices. The women’s clothing is listed at normal prices. She then shows if you look up little girl’s dresses and put in ‘high to low’ for the pricing, JUSLIO dresses don’t show up—as if they’ve been intentionally hidden. She claims in her tags what Walmart is covering up is ‘hidden in plain sight.’
The TikToker responding to her video, as well as many commenters, disagree. He states, “Remember how you actually derailed human trafficking?”, which is a call-out to how conspiracy theorists attacked Wayfair in 2020 for alleged human trafficking. The baseless claims against the company spread theories all over social media. At one point, he says, “Remember when you all fell for and spread a QAnon conspiracy theory?”
Apparently, there are numerous reasons for why there are expensive children’s clothing—and it doesn’t involve trafficking. One commenter explained, “There was a dvd on Amazon for $6000. I asked customer service why… they said it was a “place holder” so pretty much exactly what this guy is saying. Instead of taking the product down and starting anew, they raise the price knowing no one will buy said product while they wait for more stock to come in.” Another (hopefully) joked in reply, “Nope. There’s definitely a trafficked child in those DVD cases.”
Others on Kenz’s original video shared her sentiment and actually believe that Walmart could be staging a cover-up. One person said, “Butterflies are a pedo symbol” with the shocked face emojis after it. Another speculated, “I think it’s something else or something too. Etsy, Ebay, Amazon, Wayfair & Target kinda do the same sort of advertising.”
Before you’re swept up in an internet conspiracy theory, it pays to do your research. It’s better than assuming every company is out to steal kids off the street. Yeah, these companies are horrible—but for many other reasons, like pay gaps.
