YouTube Cracks Down On Tide Laundry Pod Challenge Videos
Many laundry detergent companies are offering their product in "pod" form: a small dissolvable sachet containing a single load's worth of detergent. There have been regrettable reports of very young kids and adults with dementia eating these pods by mistake, but a worrisome trend has surfaced among teens, and it is known as the "Tide Laundry Pods Challenge." The "challenge," in this case, is biting into the pods and then posting a video of it online.
Ingesting detergent isn't wise, of course. Some mistakenly believe such actions to be similar to a child having their mouth washed out with soap, but that's not the case, as detergent is quite a big stronger and made with synthetic materials. Voluntarily biting into a laundry pod is unwise.
Despite that, the challenge that may have started as a joke has earned some very real videos, and YouTube is tired of them. The company has said that these videos are in violation of its Community Guidelines, which doesn't allow videos that "encourage dangerous activity that have an inherent risk of physical harm."
What should Tide PODs be used for? DOING LAUNDRY. Nothing else.
Eating a Tide POD is a BAD IDEA, and we asked our friend @robgronkowski to help explain. pic.twitter.com/0JnFdhnsWZ
— Tide (@tide) January 12, 2018
The news comes from Fast Company, which got word from YouTube. However, it is only removing them if they're brought to the service's attention via flagging. If a YouTube user comes across one of these videos, they should flag it so that YouTube can remove it. This follows Procter & Gamble's recent statement that it would work with social media companies to get these videos removed.
The company Tide has also weighed in on the dumb trend, going so far as to tweet a video warning against the practice. The company says, "Eating a Tide POD is a BAD IDEA," including a warning in its video that says, "Laundry pacs are highly concentrated detergent meant only to clean clothes."
SOURCE: Fast Company