Wharton Professors Actually Warby Parker Marketing Associates

It's a tale as old as time: you're sitting in a nondescript Wharton class, thinking about ways you can tear your classmates down and destroy their futures, when the professor pulls out the classic: “Warby Parker is a great example of this...”. You snap out of your daydream, give a little eye roll to your friend, and make one addition to the vast amount of knowledge you have about this goddamn company.

Peter Wells (W ’18) knows this all too well. “At this point, I am confident in saying I know literally everything there is to know about Warby Parker. Their supply chain, social responsibility, reversion to the traditional storefront... hell, at this point, I'm pretty sure I know which scent of Bath & Body Works soap they use in their bathrooms. Yeah, it’s Sweet Pea.”

After some investigation, it turns out that there’s further explanation for Wharton’s massive boner for Warby Parker. Wharton professors aren’t actually hired by the University at all – they’re Warby Parker Marketing Associates!

How did this happen? Well, Warby Parker, the golden startup child of the Wharton MBA program, refused to forget its roots when they hired missionaries to spread the word of the inexpensive bifocal. These associates, disguised as PhD-holders in suits, may appear to teach classes about “Creativity,” “Consumer Behavior,” and “Operations and Information Management,” but in reality they're brainwashing twenty-somethings into buying the admittedly chic frames.

Warby, we appreciate your charisma, but we’re sick and tired of hearing about your business model. Take it easy.