Last week, a user on Twitter went viral after she shared a bizarre experience online. She says she went to Walgreens to purchase a pregnancy test at her doctor’s request, despite not having fallopian tubes. Afterward, she was sent a box of formulas and a lid to a baby bottle from Enfamil. She assumed they got her information, along with her data and what she purchased, from using her Walgreens card, which she assumes was later sold by Walgreens to Enfamil.
Dear @Walgreens I received this package today a week after purchasing a pregnancy test at your store. I was asked to take the test by my doctor despite having no Fallopian tubes. 1/X pic.twitter.com/EZTsTPf7jd
— Nicole (@melancholynsex) July 17, 2022
Despite only a few days passing, her tweet began to circulate on the app with over 173 thousand likes and 33 thousand retweets. Many knew your data could be sold to better advertise to you, but many people could not wrap their heads around this. Nicole points out how there is a formula shortage, and yet Enfamil “is sending out formula all willy-nilly.” She also called out Walgreens for selling the data and information in the first place.
The privacy of our customers is important to us. We did not provide individual customer purchase information to Enfamil. ^AKT
— Walgreens (@Walgreens) July 18, 2022
With Roe V. Wade being overturned recently, some wondered if this was an odd attempt for a political statement. Recently, there have been reports of Walgreens employees not selling customers condoms due to religious reasons. But, Walgreens responded on Twitter to say that they do not sell data or provide purchase information. Some wondered if it was the credit card she used instead or if other purchases might have triggered Enfamil to send the box to her. But, she said she cannot think of any other purchases that would encourage her to be sent baby formula.
It was mentioned that another purchase not at Walgreens may have triggered this package. While I am open to that possibility, there is literally ZERO baby things in my life. There’s not even KID things in my life. I will add, I did pay using my iPhone with a Band of America Visa
— Nicole (@melancholynsex) July 17, 2022
She reports she was able to find someone in need to give the baby formula to her, so it didn’t go to waste, which many people were happy to hear about. Still, it caused quite a response online. #BoycottWalgreens began to trend online as a coincidence and also brought attention to how common selling data to companies might be without people realizing it.
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