• by Tanya Gazdik , September 9, 2024

If you haven’t heard of Temu, it’s the Chinese-owned website where you can buy almost anything for almost nothing. 

That’s all fine and dandy, until your new adorable croissant-shaped lamp starts attracting bugs. 

“A few days ago, a TikTok went viral for revealing how a croissant-shaped lamp reportedly purchased on Temu was actually just… an actual croissant,” according to Thrillist. “Covered in resin, of course, but still just plain and simple bread with a hole for batteries and a mini light bulb.”

Posts about the lamp have started going viral on social media. 

“I came home from work after a hot day and there [were,] like, hundreds of ants underneath it,” says a video poster in the TikTok, which racked up more than one million likes. Upon poking a hole in the croissant lamp and snapping it in half, the poster quickly realized that the inside lining was, in fact, not covered in resin. It was just pastry, per Thrillist. 

“The video went viral, garnering more than 11.9 million views on TikTok, and a post on X about the video also went viral, amassing more than 9.8 million views,” according to Today. “Nearly 18,000 comments flooded the video, and folks from Reddit, Threads and beyond weighed in about the flaky situation.”

TikToker Neta Murphy ctually took a bite out of the lamp, which alarmed some viewers. 

This isn’t the first time Temu has made the news for less than desirable reasons. 

“The company’s fast fashion practices, which include high resource consumption and waste production, have been criticized for their negative environmental impact,” according to Bored Panda. 

Temu’s low-cost products encourage overconsumption, leading to waste and increased carbon emissions from transportation, GreenMatch explains.

There have also been concerns regarding breaches of human rights.

“The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party published a report that states Temu does not take the necessary steps to ensure the products on the site comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Act," according to ZDNnet.com. “The same report asserts that Temu exploits a U.S. commerce loophole that allows the company to avoid paying tariffs and complying with U.S. commerce laws and regulations.”

Maybe that lamp isn’t so cute after all.