Beauty chain Mecca leaves loyal customers confused by designs on special holiday carry bags that 'look like sperm and vaginas'

Australia's most popular cosmetics chain has left some customers scratching their heads after they launched their limited edition holiday bags this month. 

The department store, which is home to over 200 luxury brands, offers new paper carry bags and boxes every year around the Christmas period, always featuring elaborate, colourful designs. 

The packaging is prized by fans of the company, and this year, Mecca enlisted Australian artist and author Tai Snaith to create the art used for the latest launch. 

Called the Join the Wild Chorus campaign, the bags and boxes feature whimsical fairytale figures including fairies, butterflies and anthropomorphised flowers. 

However, some people viewing the bags online have raised their eyebrows at the surrealist designs, comparing them to 'sperm' and 'vaginas'. 

'I can't unsee this...' wrote Tasmanian makeup artist Scarlett Quarmby, alongside a video, which she shared on Instagram, showing one of the new bags from the side. 

The artwork shows unbloomed flower buds with frowning faces, but appeared to some to resemble sperm. 

'I work for Mecca and now I can't unsee it,' wrote one employee in the comments section. 

'This is just so, so funny. Oooops. How did it get past all the layers of approval before printing and distribution of these artful little sperms?' said someone else.  

'I literally saw this on my package yesterday and wondered the same thing,' said someone else. 

'Oh, I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought that,' wrote another person, with one more adding: 'Now I can't unsee that.'

Several people tried to guess what the image was meant to depict, with many assuming it showed radishes. 

'I think they are tadpoles?' questioned one commenter, while another person wrote, 'Bruthuh they are radishes. No one would actually draw sperms on a bag'. 

There was also chatter about another design in the lineup, which showed a regal sprite dressed in a cloak. 

'What about the vulva on the gift boxes?' asked one person. 

The conversation continued on Reddit, where someone said: 'All I see are vaginas,' while another replied, 'I can't unsee it.'

'Oh no, you had to mention it!' joked one more person. 

Despite the criticism, several collectors of Mecca's holiday bags loved the designs, with one person calling them 'gorgeous' and another praising the company for using local artists instead of AI-generated images. 

Melbourne artist Tai Snaith said that her artwork for Mecca's Join the Wild Chorus campaign was inspired by the natural world and powerful women. 

'I find inspiration in nature and the way that certain weeds or flowers grow in adverse conditions,' she said in an interview on the Mecca website. 

'I also find inspiration in the stories of creative women from the past – especially those who were considered difficult or unruly, and who maybe didn't fit into the mainstream art movements at the time.'