The internet loves a good social experiment, especially when it involves attractive influencers, confused strangers, and a camera secretly recording the whole thing. This week, content creator Caroline Ricke embarked on a trip to everyone’s favorite hardware playground, Home Depot.
Ricke decided to test the mysterious power known as “pretty privilege.”
You know the theory. If you’re attractive, the world magically becomes easier. Doors open, people help you, strangers offer assistance like you’re the main character in a romantic comedy.
So Ricke figured: why not test it?
View this post on Instagram
Her plan was simple. She walked into Home Depot looking like a full-on pinup model. We’re talking wild outfit, perfect hair, makeup on point, basically dressed like a hot model.
“My slutty outfit was met with more apprehension than flirtation,” Ricke groaned to her over 3.2 million social media fans in a viral video. “No one’s helping me. I’ve been sitting here for, like, 10 minutes, and I put on this whole outfit, and no one’s offering me any help.”
Rather than being adored, the pinup was ignored by the men she expected to sweep off their feet.
But pretty privilege, or social benefits exclusively afforded to the gorgeous, can be a tricky trait to gauge — even in a hotspot like Home Depot, where single women have flocked in the hopes of scoring a husband.
That’s an interesting social experiment right there.
To truly test the theory, Ricke returned to Home Depot in a sweatshirt and basketball shorts, dumping her look-at-me mini dress for a much more homely look.
And much to the brunette’s surprise, the dowdy duds caught eyes — and compliments, too.
She was first fawned over by an unidentified female staffer who called her “pretty,” “beautiful” and “gorgeous” during two brief run-ins.
Ricke, still in her unfussy wear, later received a high-value store coupon from a male Home Depot worker — and randomly found $60 on the ground.
“This is, like, literally, my lucky day,” raved the undercover beauty, who pouted after failing to curry any favor in her foxier attire.
“I think they’re treating me better because they’re not intimidated by me,” she concluded of the social experiment, which amassed a wave of virtual praise.
“You’re more approachable that way!” a commenter said, referring to Ricke’s casual clothes. “You’re already beautiful, so dressing down isn’t going to change that your beauty just shines more because your face and confidence carries. In the dressy outfit, people are just [intimidated].”
“I go dressed [informally],” a frequent Home Depot shopper chimed in, “and I get approached [by men] every two aisles.”
“It’s the same as the comfy clothes in the bar trend,” wrote another. “I’ve had men tell me that I’m intimidating to approach when I’m dressed up. It’s the girl next door vibe.”
So if you’re looking for attention, maybe skip the hardware aisle, because apparently at Home Depot, the real star of the show isn’t pretty privilege, it’s power tools.
