As the holiday season beings in earnest, millions of Americans are reporting a deep sense of existential dread upon viewing a new ad for Chanel No. 5 that has been described as “freakishly unsettling,” “inappropriate for television,” and “like watching the universe wither before your eyes.”

The TV spot, airing during primetime all across the nation, consists of a series of disjointed and disturbing series of images and clips, including the hollow shell of a bombed-out Chechnyan village, a lone human skull on a dining room table, and singer Sinead O’Connor tearing up a copy of the US Tax Code while reading from existentialist philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s 1843 work, Fear and Trembling.

“I have no idea what I’m looking at,” said Roger Aplin, chief sales rep at the Macy’s location in the Palisades Mall. “It appears to be a commentary on… Consumerism? Japanese fishing practices? That can’t be right…” It was at this point that Aplin shuddered, as if a cold wind passed through the core of his very soul. He gestured vaguely towards several customers eyeing the perfume on the shelves, three of whom were weeping.

“It smells like forgetting,” he whispered, before collapsing.

The ad has not been limited to television, however. Bus stations around the nation now feature posters of a similar bent, most of which are simply blank white pages encased in shattered glass or, as is the case in several of Times Square’s enormous screens, a single unblinking eye.