Luxury Brand's Rs 6,500 Incense Spiral Goes Viral as Indians Compare It to Rs 50 Mosquito Coil

India Compares It to Cheap Insect Repellent

The massive online roast quickly picked up speed among Indian internet users, who are deeply familiar with traditional household items. In a typical Indian home, a standard ten-pack box of green, insect-repelling mosquito coils usually costs between Rs 35 and Rs 50 at any neighborhood retail shop. Seeing Diptyque sell a nearly identical looking spiral design for an astounding Rs 6,500 caused a wave of disbelief and laughter. Social media platforms were quickly flooded with funny facepalm emojis and jokes, with users pointing out that luxury brands seem to keep "rediscovering" common, everyday items and charging a massive premium for them.

The Philippines Joins the Viral Roast

India was certainly not the only country having a massive laugh at the high-end fragrance company's expense. In the Philippines, where household insect-repelling coils are commonly known by the local term "katol," netizens also drew immediate, hilarious parallels to the luxury brand's release. Dozens of side-by-side comparison screenshots and funny local memes started circulating rapidly across major online feeds. Even the most loyal luxury consumers felt the pricing structure and look were hard to justify, with several prominent fashion accounts joking that they would much rather stick to regular scented candles than buy expensive "katol."

Not the First Luxury Design Fail

To be entirely fair to Diptyque, the French company is not marketing this specific product as an active bug spray or insect repellent. The spirals are simply high-quality incense items meant to fragrance open-air garden spaces, arriving packaged alongside a fancy gold-finished oval holder. Still, this funny viral episode follows a long trend of luxury fashion houses getting mocked for borrowing everyday cultural items. Only last year, elite fashion giant Prada faced heavy criticism and trolling online when it launched a pair of luxury leather sandals that looked exactly like India's iconic, traditional Kolhapuri chappals.

The True History Behind the Design

While the internet continues to roast the French brand for "gentrifying" a basic item, the physical shape itself actually carries a fascinating history that predates modern commercial brands entirely. The distinct coiled design was originally developed in Japan during the late nineteenth century by Yuki Ueyama, who suggested coiling incense to make it burn smoothly for longer periods without requiring electricity. The design spread globally because it was highly portable, functional, and inexpensive to produce for working-class families. Decades later, this historic silhouette has completed a wild journey from a humble neighborhood porch tool straight onto the luxury shelves of Paris boutiques.