'Tide Pod Challenge': Doctors Warn Parents About Teens Eating Detergent

tide pods istockphoto.com
Holly Van Hare|

If you thought the "Cinnamon Challenge" was dangerous, just wait until you read what America's teens have cooked up next. The "Tide Pod Challenge," a pointless endeavor that involves physically eating the soap-filled pods, has the internet drooling over containers of laundry detergent.

 

The idea dawned on people in 2015, when people remarked that Tide Pods looked eerily like a snack. Confused? So were we. Despite the fact that eating these products is actually very dangerous, people continued to fantasize about popping them into their hungry mouths.

More than two years later, the idea is still going strong, despite some angry Twitter users' protests that this meme should join the graveyard of abandoned internet humor.

 

 

And, like many of the internet's fantasies, it was only a matter of time before people started to give in and actually eat the things. Dozens of teens have captured themselves on camera popping a Tide Pod or two into their mouths, smiling as the soap gushes from tears in the thick plastic casing.

As a preemptive warning, there are a few teens in the following video who actually swallow the Tide Pod. Squeamish viewers beware.

 

Doctors are calling the situation "life-threatening" and advising anyone who has consumed laundry detergent to call a poison control center.

"You'll get burns to the skin, burns to the eyes, and a lot of problems that are more severe," Dr. Joe Krug told WXIN. "Burns to the respiratory tract, burns to the esophagus."

Worth it for the meme?

To give teens some credit, the creativity coming from this challenge is impressive. Some of these pod-filled meals mirror culinary innovation. For instance, @MoonEmojii created a crispy, baked Tide Pod pizza.

 

@null111_ arranged a romantic dinner for one.

 

But come on, guys. Instead of chewing on bitter soap pouches, wouldn't you rather dig in to one of these romantic dinner dishes?

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