Let's talk about it: the Tide Pod Challenge.
For as long as we have roamed the Earth, there have been jokes and "challenges" that teenagers would participate in. Once upon a time, kids would lick a flag pole on the coldest day of the year to see if their tongue would get stuck. Then they moved on to "smoking" Smarties Candy because it was cool. When I was in middle school everyone was doing the "Cinnamon Challenge", where they would try to swallow a tablespoon of Ground Cinnamon and not drink anything for 60 seconds after. I have a friend who is now allergic to Cinnamon because of that. But the Tide Pod Challenge really takes the cake.
The Tide Pod Challenge is where someone would film themselves biting into and ingesting a Tide brand detergent pod. And while those colorful pods may be very pretty, WHY WOULD YOU INGEST THEM??? Call me crazy, but EW! This is a detergent, not a candy.
Millions of people have jumped on the bandwagon, and have posted their Tide Pod Challenge on social media. The issue with this is that the pods are made of non-edible chemicals. Tide released an ingredient list for what has been used in their detergents. These include Polyvinyl Alcohol which is a synthetic polymer. Let me say that again for the people in the back..... SYNTHETIC POLYMER. This stuff is pretty much a plastic coating or adhesive that dissolves in water. Another ingredient is Amine Oxide which is used as a surfactant and a foam stabilizer. Surfactants are detergents. This particular surfactant is used in 95% of household cleaning products. Why on Earth would you want to ingest that? There are so many other scary ingredients in these laundry detergent pods, that unless you speak Chemistry would be insanely boring. But I think you get the point. These are not made for ingestion. The warning label specifically says that! The ingestion of many of these chemicals can lead to respiratory issues, nausea, a coma, or even death. So why are people still doing this Challenge? Who knows.
Others, I suppose the brighter of these people, have made light of the Tide Pod Challenge.There are memes all over the internet of other "Challenges" that could be related to the tide Pod Challenge. Other companies are making light of the Challenge, by making products that look similar to the Tide Pods. There are Tide Pod shaped pillows, and patterns of Tide Pods on fabric for blankets and bedding. Peggy's Bake Shoppe in Wellsboro, P.A. has started making Novelty cookies which look like Tide Pods. There are silly pictures of Tide Pod flavored Oreos, and Tide Podsicles (Tide Flavored Popsicle).
All in all, I think this is one of the more ridiculous Challenges. But maybe it's not the worst thing to have ever happened. At this point, it's survival of the fittest. The Tide Pod Challenge is offing those who are not very bright, bettering our genetic pool.
