A recent commercial that appears to be for the company Wayfair has been proven to be a fake. The ad itself surfaced just days after a child trafficking conspiracy theory surfaced on online involving the high-end retailer, which led to quite a few social media users circulating the clip.
A widely-circulated “Wayfair advertisement” is being shared on Twitter, which shows children opening boxes bearing the Wayfair logo with another child popping out near the end. As MEAWW points out, the video already appears to be heavily edited. Which it is, as it’s actually a FedEx commercial from 2018. The real ad (which you can see here) shows FedEx boxes, and at one point, a child jumping out.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The accusations behind Wayfair stem from a theory that the company’s high-priced cabinets and other products are secretly a front for child trafficking. Some have even claimed that the expensive products were named after the names of actual children who’d been reported missing. Yet another part of this increasingly elaborate theory also claims that product SKUs could be used to find images of young children on a Russian website. It’s also been linked to other wide-ranging conspiracy theories, including the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and Pizzagate.
The theory started to gain steam online after screenshots of several expensive products from the Wayfair site were shared. The allegations would stem from instances of a $99 shower curtain with a $9,999 curtain, which was presented as evidence. Others have been claiming that if you searched for a specific SKU number associated with one of the more lavishly-priced items, then typed a particular search term before them on a Russian search engine, you will find images of young children. However, the fact-checkers at Snopes pointed out that if you include that search team with any random numbers, one will get similar results.
A company spokesperson responded to the allegations, telling Business Insider that there was “no truth” to the claims being spread about them on social media. “The products in question are industrial grade cabinets that are accurately priced. Recognizing that the photos and descriptions provided by the supplier did not adequately explain the high price point, we have temporarily removed the products from the site to rename them and to provide a more in-depth description and photos that accurately depict the product to clarify the price point.”
