About
Tide POD Challenge refers to a dare game involving the consumption of Tide PODS laundry detergent capsules, which are often compared to various fruit-flavored snack foods due to their packaging and appearance. Online, the practice of eating Tide PODS is frequently mocked in a similar vein to bleach drinking and the consumption of other poisonous forbidden snacks.
Origin
In February 2012, the multi-national consumer goods corporation Procter & Gamble introduced the Tide PODS laundry detergent packs. According to Consumer Reports, there were increased calls to poison control centers due to children consuming the product.[1] On December 4th, 2013, Straight Dope Forums[7] member Silvorange submitted a post titled “People eating Tide pods” discussing rumors about people eating the detergent packs.
Spread
On December 8th, 2015, The Onion published an opinion article written from the point of view of a child attempting to eat laundry pods. [2]
On May 10, 2016 YouTuber Cyr made a video about eating Tide PODS (shown below).
On March 31th, 2017, humor website CollegeHumor uploaded a Youtube video titled “Don’t Eat The Laundry Pods”, which gained over 2.5 million views by the end of the year.[9]
On July 10th, Redditor gineralee submitted a post titled “Bite into one of those Tide Pods. Do it.” to /r/intrusivethoughts.[8] The following day, The Onion published another article satirically describing a new Sour Apple flavor of Tide PODS.[3] On December 9th, Twitter user @mineifiwildout[6] tweeted the joke “no more eating Xanax in 2018 we eating tide pods from now on” (shown below). Within two weeks, the tweet gained over 25,600 likes and 7,100 retweets.
On December 11th, Twitter user @littlestwayne tweeted a GIF of Oprah Winfrey munching on stage, joking that it is the feeling of eating forbidden Tide PODS, which gained over 25,000 likes.[4] A similar tweet by user @fastjellyfish was posted on December 21st and gained over 18,000 likes.[5]
On December 26th, 2017, Twitter user @nightfilm posted three images along with the message “i really tried and died for the cause” (shown below).[10]
On July 11th, The Onion[21] published a satirical article titled “Tide Debuts New Sour Apple Detergent Pods,” which included a photoshopped promotional ad for the parody laundry detergent (shown below).
Tide POD Chan
On January 1st, 2018, Instagram user greenpantsu posted a drawing of an anthropomorphicanime representation of Tide PODS named “Tide Pod Chan” (shown below). In 3 days it got over 5000 likes.
On January 1st, 2018, the Vivian James /v/ Facebook[11] page posted the image. Within 48 hours, the post gathered upwards of 1,100 reactions and 1,000 shares.
That day, Lushsux posted the illustration on Instagram,[12] asking viewers if he should create a mural for the character (shown below, left). On January 2nd, cosplayer Azumii posted a photograph of herself dressed as Tide POD Chan (shown below, right).
Tide POD Challenge
The earliest iteration of the Tide POD Challenge, a series of videos in which people eat or pretend to eat Tide PODS was posted on January 7th, 2018 by YouTuber[14] TheAaronSwan669, who published a video (shown below) entitled “TIDEPODCHALLENGE.” In the video, he pretends to participate in the challenge of eating Tide PODS before saying “just kidding.”
Over the next week, more videos featuring the “Tide POD Challenge” appearing online (example below, left).[19] Several media outlets, including The Washington Post,[15]CBS,[16] The Chicago Tribune[17] and more, reported on the videos. According to the Washington Post, “Last year, U.S. poison control centers received reports of more than 10,500 children younger than 5 who were exposed to the capsules. The same year, nearly 220 teens were reportedly exposed, and about 25 percent of those cases were intentional, according to data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers. So far in 2018, there have been 37 reported cases among teenagers -- half of them intentional, according to the data.”
Procter & Gamble spokeswoman Petra Renck said in a statement, "Laundry pacs are made to clean clothes. They should not be played with, whatever the circumstance, even if meant as a joke. Like all household cleaning products, they must be used properly and stored safely.”
Tide released a new video to help stop the spread of the challenge and disuade people from eating Tide PODS. On January 12th, 2018, the company released a video[18] featuring NFL star Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski warning people not to eat them. The video (shown below, right) received more than 20,000 views in four days.
The same day, Facebook user Corey B uploaded footage of himself performing the challenge, which gathered upwards of 3.3 million views, 61,000 reactions and 5,900 comments over the next five days. The video has since been removed.
Due to the sudden popularity of the meme, many stores, including Walmart, Walgreen’s and Ralph’s,[20] have begun locking Tide PODS up, requiring a store employee to retrieve them for customers. On January 13th, Twitter[21] user @NavidHasan_ tweeted a picture (shown below) of the PODS locked up with the caption "y’all really joked around so much that tide put their tide pods in plastic boxes…smh."
Video Removal
On January 18th, a Google spokesperson announced that YouTube would be removing videos that feature participants of the Tide POD Challenge.[22] They said, “YouTube’s Community Guidelines prohibit content that’s intended to encourage dangerous activities that have an inherent risk of physical harm. We work to quickly remove flagged videos that violate our policies.”
That day, Facebook made a similar announcement, stating that they would be removing any videos featuring the Tide POD Challenge. A representative said, “We don’t allow the promotion of self-injury and will remove it when we’re made aware of it.”[22]
Tide POD Foods
Following the popularity of Tide PODs, numerous, privately owned restaurants began offering Tide POD-themed foods.
On January 17th, the Facebook[25] account for Hurts Donut in Springfield, Missouri posted a picture of a Tide POD-themed donut. They posted it next to a picture of a Tide POD with the work “No” overlayed on the POD and “Yes” over the donut. They added the caption “I thought this might clear up any confusion there might have been but now adults are throwing donuts in the washer.” The post (shown below) received more than 6,100 reactions, 1,300 comments and 7,300 shares in two days.
On January 18th, Vinnie’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn, New York posted about Tide POD pizza on their Instagram account (shown below).[23] However, due to the removal of content regarding the Tide POD Challenge, the post was removed by Instagram.[24]
Tide Social Media Response
Since the popularity of the Tide POD Challenge, Tide’s Twitter has been instructing people to contact poison control, if a POD is ingested (examples below). On January 18th, Mashable wrote an article about their response on social media. They wrote, “As teens participate, pretend to participate, and talk about participating in the Tide Pod Challenge, the official Tide Twitter account has assumed the unofficial role of emergency services referral.”
Search Interest
[1]Consumer Reports – Laundry detergent pods remain a health hazard
[2]The Onion – So Help Me God, I’m Going To Eat One Of Those Multicolored Detergent Pods
[3]The Onion – Tide Debuts New Sour Apple Detergent Pods
[4]Twitter – me eating tide laundry detergent pods
[5]Twitter – anyone: are u eating those tide pod detergents me:
[6]Twitter – @mineifiwildout
[7]Straight Dope – People eating Tide pods
[8]Reddit – Bite into one of those Tide Pods
[9]Youtube College Humor Channel – Don’t Eat The Laundry Pods
[10]Twitter – i really tried and died for the cause
[11]Facebook – Vivian James /v/
[13]Instagram – original post
[14]YouTube – TIDEPODCHALLENGE!!!
[15]The Washington Post – Teens are daring each other to eat Tide pods. We don’t need to tell you that’s a bad idea.
[16]CBS– MN Poison Control Says ‘Tide Pod Challenge’ Is No Joke
[17]The Chicago Tribune – Column: Think the Tide pod challenge is dumb? Try mowing someone’s lawn!
[18]YouTube – Gronk knows that Tide PODS® are for DOINGLAUNDRY. Nothing else.
[19]World Star – SMH: Teens Eat Laundry Detergent For A Dumb & Dangerous Challenge Called The ‘Tide Pod Challenge!’
[20]Yahoo – Tide Pods food meme has gone too far -- just look at all the locked up detergent
[21]The Onion – Tide Debuts New Sour Apple Detergent Pods
[22]CNN– Tide Pod Challenge: YouTube is removing ‘dangerous’ videos
[23]Twitter – @juliareinstein’s Tweet
[24]Instagram – @vinniesbrooklyn’s Post
[25]Facebook – HurtsDonutCompany’s Post
[26]Mashable – Please spare a thought for the manager of Tide’s Twitter account