If you’ve ever done laundry, you’ve probably seen those brightly colored orange and blue Tide detergent pods. And without knowing what they are, it’s pretty easy to mistake the pods as some kind of food.
Social media thought the same thing, and as a result memes have been popping up all over the internet of people eating the pods or using them as toppings on things like pizza.
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The perfect meal. Retweet if you would eat this. #tidepods #tidepod pic.twitter.com/OpsPJkF6eV
— Tide Pod memes (@Tidepodmemes) January 6, 2018
#imagine cooking up brick oven tide pod pizza with chef gyu😋🍕😌 pic.twitter.com/iVo4NcTJxT
— bad svt imagines (@badsvtimagines) January 1, 2018
This is the golden tide pod, Retweet or you will have bad luck all of 2018, god is watching. pic.twitter.com/UxA9TZuMa2
— Tide Pods (@OGTidePods) January 3, 2018
The YouTube channel College Humor even went so far as to parody social media’s fascination with the pods by having one of their cast members debate over eating one.
But there’s just one problem: those pods are poisonous and incredibly dangerous to the human body if consumed. But that hasn’t stopped the “Tide Pod Challenge,” from becoming a meme, where people actually dare to eat one of the pods.
Tide even went so far as to put out a statement regarding the pods.
“Our laundry pacs are a highly concentrated detergent meant to clean clothes, and they’re used safely in millions of households every day,” the statement read. “They should be only used to clean clothes and kept up, closed and away from children.
“We have seen no indication of an increase of cases seeking medical treatment amongst infants and teenagers associated with the recent uptick in social media conversation or in consumer calls.”
However, if you are so tempted by the colorful pods, there is an alternative that’s less hazardous. Tumblr user “sometimessmarmy” posted a recipe that makes treats resembling the pods that are made mostly of gelatin rather than detergent.
