The Coastal Caviar Necklace Controversy Stems From a Lighthouse Charm That Looks Inappropriate

There are tons and tons of boutique-style jewelry stores around the country that offer some of the most unique and adorable must-have pieces. In fact, there are so many that you probably haven’t even heard of half of them. Coastal Caviar is probably one of the many you didn’t even know existed (no offense) until one of their fabulous charms got swept up in a controversy in November 2025. And the culprit is their gold lighthouse charm.

While “controversy” usually means something bad, the company actually made light of the situation, turning it into something more funny than anything, and people are really appreciating it. Here’s the root of the Coastal Caviar lighthouse charm controversy and how the company’s owners responded. (It’s honestly priceless.)

Coastal Caviar was placed smack in the middle of a controversy in November 2025 over its gold lighthouse necklace charm. For context, the company sells necklaces and allows customers to pick out one or more charms to hang from the chain. But after one person received a necklace with multiple charms as a gift, they and everyone around them quickly noticed something was off about the lighthouse charm dangling from her neck. Apparently, when it flips to the wrong side, it looks like male genitalia.

The customer contacted the company through their customer service form, writing, “When the charm naturally flips around on the chain, it does not look like a lighthouse … it looks like something a male has, which is incredibly unfortunate.” She went on to say that while she would “just deal with it,” she was having a hard time doing so since wearing it for one night led to “multiple people point[ing] it out.” She asked if there was a way to simply swap the charm for another for obvious reasons.

The company later shared a screenshot of that customer’s request and even issued an apology that might be better than the entire controversy itself. But there’s some clarification needed before we get into that.

In a TikTok shared by @yaptrapped, she first shows the lighthouse necklace from Coastal Caviar and then shows the back of a lighthouse charm that appears to be from Stone and Strand. Two different companies, both selling jewelry.

The shape of the back of the Stone and Strand lighthouse charm seems to be the one that looks a little provocative. Yet Coastal Caviar’s lighthouse charm apparently gives off the same vibes when it accidentally flips — even the owner of Coastal Caviar pointed it out after customers kept sharing photos.

So it seems there are two lighthouse charms out there giving major Little Mermaid VHS vibes (as one commenter perfectly put it). Now, onto how Coastal Caviar responded.

In Coastal Caviar’s response, the owners kept things very lighthearted. In a statement shared to the company’s Instagram Stories addressing the complaints, they wrote, “Countless customers have reported that when flipped around, our Lighthouse charm resembles a highly private area of the male anatomy. This has caused them severe embarrassment not only professionally, but in their personal life.”

The owners added, “We acknowledge full responsibility. We also acknowledge that we 100 percent saw this coming and did absolutely nothing about it.”

One of the owners has continued to comment on the controversy on the brand’s Instagram account, @shopcoastalcaviar, so you can keep tabs on how everything plays out there.