Glitter Conspiracy

About

The Glitter Conspiracy, also known as GlitterGate, The Great Glitter Conspiracy or the Glitter Mystery, refers to a conspiracy theory about the New Jersey-based glitter company Glitterex and who its mysterious top buyer is. Due to the pollution that plastic glitter causes in the earth's oceans, the banning of glitter has been called for — however, a mysterious industry still buys and uses most of the world's glitter supply for an unknown purpose. A Glitterex manager (Lauren Dyer) hinted at what the mystery industry was in 2018, but never revealed it, causing speculation across Reddit, Twitter and TikTok, peaking again in October 2022 due to an alleged "glitter shortage."

Origin

On March 31st, 2017, YouTuber Archaeosoup uploaded a video titled, "What is Glitter? Hidden Histories" in which he outlined the ancient history of glitter which dates back centuries. Over the course of five years, the video received roughly 2,100 views (shown below).

On December 21st, 2018, the New York Times^[1] published an article called "What Is Glitter?" written by journalist Caity Weaver. In the article, Weaver divulged into what glitter was and identified New Jersey as the glitter capital of America, housing the two largest manufacturers in the country. One of them was Glitterex. When Weaver reached out to Glitterex via e-mail, a rep. wrote back, "We are a very private company."

Weaver was not allowed to visit the Glitterex factory. Allegedly she wasn't even allowed to "hear" the glitter being made. Not even Glitterex's anonymous clients were allowed to visit the factory.^[1] On arrival at Glitterex headquarters (away from the factory) Weaver talked to Lauren Dyer, a Glitterex manager. Towards the end of the article, Weaver outlined a conversation held between the two about Glitterex's main industry client:

When I asked Ms. Dyer if she could tell me which industry served as Glitterex’s biggest market, her answer was instant: “No, I absolutely know that I can’t.”

I was taken aback. “But you know what it is?”

“Oh, God, yes,” she said, and laughed. “And you would never guess it. Let’s just leave it at that.” I asked if she could tell me why she couldn’t tell me. “Because they don’t want anyone to know that it’s glitter.”

“If I looked at it, I wouldn’t know it was glitter?”

“No, not really.”

“Would I be able to see the glitter?”

“Oh, you’d be able to see something. But it’s -- yeah, I can’t.”

Later on December 21st, 2018, a since-deleted Redditor posted to /r/UnresolvedMysteries,^[6] writing, "Which mystery industry is the largest buyer of glitter?" in which they cited the New York Times' article. In their post, they hypothesized about what the mystery industry was:

Glitter is a lot of places where it's obvious. Nail polish, stripper's clubs, football helmets, etc. Where might it be that is less obvious and can afford to buy a ton of it? Guesses I heard since reading the article are:

• I toothpaste
• money

Guesses I've brainstormed on my own with nothing to go on:

• the military (deep pockets, buys lots of vehicles and paint and lights and god knows what)
• construction materials (concrete sidewalks often glitter)
• the funeral industry (not sure what, but that industry is full of cheap tricks they want to keep secret and I wouldn't put glitter past them)
• cheap jewelry (would explain the cheapness)

Over the course of four years, the Reddit^[6] post received roughly 14,900 upvotes and 2,200 comments (shown below, click to enlarge).

Spread

Later in the day on December 21st, 2018, news outlet The Cut^[2] published their own article about the New York Times' article titled "The Great Glitter Conspiracy of 2018," in which they highlighted the aforementioned quotes by Ms. Dyer about not revealing which industry was the largest glitter buyer in America. Many of The Cut's staffers hypothesized on which industry it was (jewelry, cars, the NFL), which mostly referenced the use of glitter in paint (like on an NFL helmet).

On August 2nd, 2019, Redditor SkynetJusticeWarri0r posted about The Cut's "Glitter Conspiracy" article to /r/TheTopMinds.^[3] In the comments, Redditor hemanshi95 hypothesized that the top buyer of glitter was "The sand mafia," as in multi-billion dollar construction companies in Dubai and China that make artificial beaches and surround buildings with sand. The Redditor cited a July 2018 The Guardian^[4] article titled, "Is the world running out of sand? The truth behind stolen beaches and dredged islands."

On May 7th, 2020, Redditor ShitsKicksBricks posted to /r/UnresolvedMysteries,^[5] "I think I have situational evidence to solve the 'glitter conspiracy,'" gaining over 200 upvotes in two years. Their post suggested "boat paint" as the main industry, in reference to an article published by wbr^[7] in 2019.

On September 11th, 2020, YouTuber Slightly Sociable, formerly known as Barely Sociable, posted a video about the "Glitter conspiracy" as a part of their "Reddit Mysteries" series, gaining roughly 1.1 million views in two years (shown below).

On TikTok / Glitter Shortage Conspiracy Theory

On October 10th, 2022, TikToker^[8] chuppl posted a video in which he resurfaced Lauren Dyer and Glitterex, staging a reenactment of a phone call between Weaver and Dyer's original New York Times interview. Over the course of ten days, the video received roughly 6.4 million plays and 1.2 million likes (shown below, left). The video by chuppl sparked mass discourse about the "Glitter Conspiracy" on TikTok continuing into October 2022. For instance, on October 16th, 2022, TikToker^[9] maxedoutmommy posted a video in which she gave a PowerPoint presentation on the theory, gaining roughly 1.5 million plays and 230,000 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References