'my baby has been ruined'
Zoella hits back over criticism of her £50 ‘rip-off’ advent calendar… and claims the price was ‘not her decision’
ZOELLA has responded to the criticism of her £50 "rip-off" advent calendar, and claimed the price is out of her control.
The YouTuber's contains just £21.57 worth of products - according to fellow vlogger Yasmine Summan.
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The 27-year-old has been widely criticised for the price of the festive countdown, partly because of the young age of many of her fans.
Even Poundland has waded into the debate, comparing the product to a lookalike one they are flogging for nearly a QUARTER of the price - at just £13.
Now Zoella has publicly apologised to her fans, at the end of about Christmas adverts and how she met boyfriend Alfie Deyes, which was posted yesterday.
In the video Zoella, whose real name is Zoe Sugg, blames retailer Boots for setting the price and accuses the store of "ruining" her "baby".
The 27-year-old said: “The calendar is something I’ve worked on for a year.
“I love the product - I am all about the creativity. I’m all about getting it from a design to a product.
“Where my input ends, is there. Once that product is done and I’m happy with it, the retailer can decide how much they sell that for. That’s completely out of my decision making.
“I don’t have the right to make those decisions. It makes me so sad that I product like I loved and worked hard on... has left so many people so upset.
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“I feel just as let down by this also. The price of any product is up to a retailer.
“I don’t want people to think that I’m, like, sat at home, like, counting £50 every time someone buys this calendar thinking that was a conscious decision that I made to rip people off.
“That is 100 per cent not my intention. My intention was to make a product that I thought you guys would love.
“I still think it is a product you would love, it’s just been completely ruined by a decision I didn’t make and it’s so frustrating.
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“My input in this, is creative. It’s coming up with new ideas, it’s new packaging concepts, it’s new scents, it’s new things we can do. I’m very heavily involved in that and I love it.
“These things take years to get right and that is all I can do. Past that point, it’s handed over.
“It’s like a baby that is handed over to somebody else and then they get to choose what they do with that.
“I think, seeing some people’s feedback on this, it’s quite obvious that the decision made by the retailer was the wrong decision.
“And I’m sure they will take that information on board.”
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She added: “I’m really sorry that so many of you felt so let down by this product.
“I really hope that this kind of clears that up for you, because there’s a lot of people that think I chose that price and that I don’t care and that I’m doing it for the money.”
A Boots spokesman told Sun Online: "We are sorry to hear that the price of the Zoella 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar has disappointed a number of customers, we always listen to feedback.
"We will be offering the product at half price during our Christmas promotion, where the calendar will be on sale for £25.00 from Thursday November 16.
"The Zoella lifestyle advent calendar is full of 12 exclusive treats which are all clearly listed on boots.com and cannot be purchased separately."
In relates news, Zoella has also come under fire for mocking gay men and "fat chavs" in old tweets - which resurfaced today.
While WHSmith is selling a very unusual advent calendar containing "a lifetime" supply of ERASERS… and people are not impressed.
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