Ah, the Tide Pod Challenge. Its just another hella weird way to show that our society is quite literally crumbling beneath our feet. Most of us are beyond sick and tired of watching our nation's youth "eat" Tide Pods "for the YouTube fame" — and that population includes a hefty portion of the Twitterverse. Thankfully, a lot of those people are coming through and expressing how they truly feel about it. So in case you weren't entirely sure where everyone stands with it, these tweets about Tide Pods definitely prove that we're all just so totally over the Tide Pod Challenge.
The dreaded Tide Pod Challenge started because of someone who decided to tweet at Gushers to request a gummy resembling everyone's fave squishy laundry product, Tide Pods. Others began expressing that they, too, had always wanted to eat something that resembled a Tide Pod — and then memes were suddenly emerging from the womb of the internet's darkest parts, left and right, about wanting to consume Tide Pods.
To take it a step further, our nation's teenage population began posting videos of themselves biting into Tide Pods, and even vaping them, making jokes about "eating clean" and whatnot. It was mildly funny for maybe a second or two, but then everyone started eating them, and things just got really, really weird. At this point, most of us are just so over it.
So maybe the Tide Pod Challenge was funny for a moment or two, but the joke got so freaking out of hand — and as it's evident from the tweets above that most of us are just completely done with it. Byeee.
Because eating Tide Pods is stupid and unsafe, Facebook and YouTube literally had to literally start banning and taking down the videos. To save their PR from this heinous laundry crime, Tide even had to tweet out a video of The New England Patriots' Rob Gronkowski, aka Gronk, to let everyone know that Tide Pods are most definitely not for eating. I never thought I would say that in a million years. Did any of us ever think things would come to this point? I really doubt major American influencers ever expected this to happen. It's kind of disgraceful, really. We are thrilled, however, that Twitter is just as sick of it as we are, so at least we aren't the only ones with a little remaining common sense.
If you do decide to eat a Tide Pod, the outcome, well, isn't swell. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School's medical director, Dr. Diane Calello, explained to The New York Times that putting Tide Pods in your mouth can lead to really intense and disgusting chemical burns. So, uh, that's really gross. She said that when the detergent goes into the Tide-eater's mouth, chemicals burn their mouths, as well as their esophagus and respiratory tracts. Yikes. It can also lead to cognitive problems in kids and old people, and while many have to go to the hospital afterwards, there's a possibility of death. Swallowing it can also lead to a mad case of vomiting and the runs. So, really, the bottom line is: Don't do it.
So in case you thought that now might be the perfect time for you to officially start biting into Tide Pods for the internet fame, just remember the Challenge is just "modern-day natural selection." And it might be a better idea to just "do some f*ckin' laundry." Really, in the wise words of Regina George, "stop trying to make (eating Tide Pods) happen! It's not going to happen!"
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