Tide Pod Challenge

The Tide Pod challenge was an Internet challenge/trend occurring in late 2017 to early 2018. It involved teenagers posting a video online of themselves eating the laundry detergent Tide Pod. When this became popular, the teenagers would involuntarily consume the Tide Pod for views online. Mainly because it looked like a squishy juicy candy. It ended around mid-2018.

The effect on the victims were dangerous chemicals being consumed, causing vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. It would also cause chemical burns to the mouth, esophagus, and stomach. It would cause lung problems like pulmonary edema. But in worse cases, it could cause seizures, aspiration, coma, and worst of all, death. This challenge was very deadly and some unfortunately died. Around 8-10 deaths occurred, with thousands of others injured and some scarred for life. Thankfully, now most detergents have made the look of their detergents less candy like and less toxic if consumed, but still can cause problems if digested. They have also made it more child-resistant and packaging less appealing to consume. Many warnings by health organizations were also issued to alert parents of the challenge to warn their children and teens not to do participate in it. YouTube and Facebook have deleted and banned most of the videos and changed guidelines to make sure no videos like this may ever be posted again. Many famous creators or celebrities, like Rob Gronkowski, have made videos encouraging not to consume the lethal pods, as they may cause death, and many life changing factors later in a teens life if they participated in this trend.