Reddit's got just what Wayfair doesn't need

I worked for many years for a software company that had a product called ATF. This stood for Automated Test Facility, but it was universally (if we had a universe beyond our company and our meager client base) called ATF. One element of the product was called the ATF Agent. This was in the early 1990's, and our product's time in the market pretty much coincided with increasing prominence for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau. Yes, that ATF. Branch Davidians at Waco. Oklahoma City bombings. ATF and ATF Agents were much in the news.

Occasionally, our cage would be rattled by some conspiracy theorists attempt to tie us to that ATF. No, we would have to explain, our software won't spy on your company. No, Janet Reno doesn't work here.

Thankfully, all of this occurred pre-social media, so we just had to deal with call-in and walk-by (at trade show) crazies. We didn't have to worry about viral craziness.

Not so Wayfair.

They've spent the last week dousing the conspiracy fires set on Reddit that have the company involved in child trafficking.

As the conspiracy theory goes, Wayfair has been selling some suspiciously expensive utility cabinets. 

Admittedly, $14,999.99 does seem like an awful lot to pay for a cabinet that looks like something you could get at Home Deport for $149.99, but maybe it's lined with mink. Or gold. Or gold and mink.  The conspiracy theorists, of course, were theorizing that the cabinets cost so much because they contain a trafficked child. More "proof" to the conspiracy-minded mind was that the cabinets also had names that were the same as those of children who had disappeared. 

"There is, of course, no truth to these claims," a Wayfair spokesperson wrote in a statement emailed to WCVB. "As a major consumer brand, we respond to customer questions every day, however, it is unfortunate when false allegations become a distraction when there are so many more important issues that matter to our employees and our customers that we as a company are focused on."

The internet fact-checkers at Snopes reached the same conclusion, determining that the conspiracy theory was completely false. (Source: WCVB)

Ellen DeGeneres has also found herself pulled in, based on a pillow from her collection on Wayfair was mysteriously priced at $10,098 in one section on their site, and at $99 on another. 

I've never looked for a storage cabinet on Wayfair, but I have spent more time than I care to admit looking through pillows on there, and I never noticed one for $10K. Of course, I generally quit searching for the perfect throw pillow somewhere between page 378 and page 442 of Wayfair pillows. Perhaps if I had persevered I would have found this expensive goody. 

Anyway, the conspiracy theorists somehow divined that the Ellen pillow was code for ordering a child, perhaps delivered with their head on that pillow. So Ellen DeGeneres' squad had to also fend off crazy accusations. She may have welcomed steering the conversation from the way she treats employees - rumored to be awful - to the batshittery of this latest version of Pizzagate. 

It's not just rumors about Wayfair directly shipping children:

Another part of the theory claimed that product SKUs could be used to find images of young children on a Russian website. Others even tried to link it to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. (Source: Popculture)

As these theories do, the Redditor responsible for kicking the theory off began their quest for truth when they found that their suspicions that something untoward was happening at Wayfair had company on Facebook.  Facebook confirmation in hand - and we know what a fine source FB is of the truthiness of truth - the Reddit user - who claims to be involved with an "organization that helps victims of human trafficking:'

... said the Reddit post was not meant to be an accusation, but just an attempt to reach out to "see if anyone else had more details."

Reddit being Reddit, no one thought there was anything accusatory going on. No, not that. Reddit being Reddit, hah!

The Reddit post gained so much traction that the theory migrated to Twitter. Users there found other examples of high-priced products, like a $9,999.00 shower curtain that looked very similar to another shower curtain being sold for just $99.99, notes Snopes. The Twitter user who shared these screenshots linked the situation to Wayfair supplying furniture for ICE detention centers "where children have gone MISSING from."

I'm guessing that the exorbitantly priced pillow and shower curtain will turn out to be items that were mis-marked. That said, someone who'd pay $14K for a storage cabinet might be willing to go $10K for a shower curtain.

In any case, what a crazy time we live in. Although it's probably easier to respond to crackpot conspiracy rumors than it is to explain away actual crappy things your company is involved in (as was the case with the sales to ICE), I'm just as glad I'm not the one having to do any communications for Wayfair.