[Maru]

New York democrats introduce bill that would require Tide Pods to look less appetizing
https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/0...ess-appetizing

New York democrats introduce bill that would require Tide Pods to look less appetizing – TheBlaze
Leon Wolf Managing Editor

A pair of New York Democrats have introduced a bill in the New York State Assembly that they say is necessary to combat the consumption of Tide Pods. The bill would require the pods to packaged in a uniform color, as well as requiring each pod to be individually wrapped in plastic complete with a warning label.

What the heck?

Teenagers and some young adults have started an Internet trend called the “Tide Pod challenge,” in which they post videos online of themselves with Tide Pods in their mouth. Although the source of the problem is clearly the fact that reckless stupidity can get you internet fame, New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman and Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas — both New York City Democrats — believe that the problem is that people somehow do not understand the danger associated with swallowing commercial cleaning products, or perhaps that Tide Pods actually look appetizing to some people because of their colorful design.

According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, there have been over 80 cases of intentional misuse of Tide Pods reported so far in 2018, up from only 53 cases in all of 2017.

Although a number of cases of child poisoning due to Tide Pods are reported every year, that number is not out of line with other, similar household products, which strongly suggests that the product is not objectively more dangerous to children due to its packaging or colorful design.

Nonetheless, the New York legislators believe that packaging, rather than intentional misuse of an obviously dangerous product, is to blame.

According to USA Today, Simontas said at a news conference announcing the bill that “We want to make sure these poisonings are prevented. It’s easy. All we have to make sure is that public safety trumps their profits.” It is not clear why Simontas believes that making Tide Pods monocrhromatic will make them less profitable.

How did the product’s manufacturer respond?

Proctor & Gamble, which manufactures the Tide Pods, responded in a statement by pointing out studies which have shown that colorful packaging does not increase the risk of child ingestion of dangerous products. Additionally, the spokesman noted that requiring an additional layer of plastic wrapping around the pods would have detrimental environmental effects, as well as creating another possible ingestion hazard for children.

The statement also noted, “Finally, consumers have a choice: Those who prefer single colored pac can use Tide Free and Gentle, which is all-white. Tide is also available in a liquid and powder product form.”

On January 22nd, the company also posted a statement to its corporate blog which pled for people to stop eating Tide Pods, and noted, “Ensuring the safety of the people who use our products is fundamental to everything we do at P&G. However, even the most stringent standards and protocols, labels and warnings can’t prevent intentional abuse fueled by poor judgment and the desire for popularity.”

[Tom4784]

If people are that stupid then let them be that stupid, less idiotic genes in the gene pool.

[smudgie]

Ah, that might explain why we get the warning on the adverts now.
Keep out of the reach of children..maybe they should also add idiots to the warning.

[LeatherTrumpet]

I had 3 for breakfast as it goes

[Cherie]

Is changing the colour going to stop stupidos from doing this, I don't think so

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

I had 3 for breakfast as it goes

[Ashley.]

Who'd have thought that in 2018, we'd be having to tell people over the age of ten not to eat tide pods? Certainly not me.

Well I say we don't tell them. Evolution and all that.

[Toy Soldier]

To be fair, a lot of this is young kids doing it for dares, with no idea of the harm they could do themselves... I find it a bit... Err... Well, disgusting actually, to suggest we should just "leave these idiots to it and who cares what happens to them". You're talking about kids under 12 here.

If it was just older teens / adults then yes it's sheer idiocy. Younger kids are naive, feel invincible and are highly susceptible to peer pressure. I personally find it very questionable for anyone to say "meh whatever" about the possibility of them suffering real harm for that.

[Greg!]

Just let natural selection take its course tbh

[LeatherTrumpet]

clean out the gene (whirl)pool

[Maru]

I remember when parenting used to be a thing

[Ashley.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

To be fair, a lot of this is young kids doing it for dares, with no idea of the harm they could do themselves... I find it a bit... Err... Well, disgusting actually, to suggest we should just "leave these idiots to it and who cares what happens to them". You're talking about kids under 12 here.

If it was just older teens / adults then yes it's sheer idiocy. Younger kids are naive, feel invincible and are highly susceptible to peer pressure. I personally find it very questionable for anyone to say "meh whatever" about the possibility of them suffering real harm for that.

It wouldn't be a described as a "challenge" if people had no idea that it could be harmful.

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

To be fair, a lot of this is young kids doing it for dares, with no idea of the harm they could do themselves... I find it a bit... Err... Well, disgusting actually, to suggest we should just "leave these idiots to it and who cares what happens to them". You're talking about kids under 12 here.

If it was just older teens / adults then yes it's sheer idiocy. Younger kids are naive, feel invincible and are highly susceptible to peer pressure. I personally find it very questionable for anyone to say "meh whatever" about the possibility of them suffering real harm for that.

if the kids were 5 you might have a point

[Maru]

hmmm, googled out of curiosity and found this... I only know my grandmother uses Tide Pods because she suggested them to me. But I'd never heard anything about them looking like candy.

The Strange Story Of How Tide Pod Eating Went Viral
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2.../#5f3118914932

The Strange Story Of How Tide Pod Eating Went Viral

This story is long and very weird.

In 2012, P&G released a new product, Tide Pods, that were meant to make doing laundry easier. Following the launch of the product, poison control saw an increase in calls by children eating Tide Pods [1]. This should make us confront two truths about the world:

Tide Pods look like candy (delicious candy at that). The bright colors, shapes, texture and weight all resemble that of a ‘bite-sized’ snack. It’s weird to say this all but it’s the truth. It’s why kids ate this and why many people I know (myself included) joked about eating these when they first came out - something in the human brain makes Tide Pods look enticing.
Tide Pods are poisonous and you definitely should not eat them.

When in 2012 Tide Pods launched, these jokes about people eating them existed - but in small niches and never spoken about publicly because admittedly it is very weird. For a few years this persisted until the Onion wrote a piece in late 2015 about a child vowing to eat Tide Pods, titled: So Help Me God, I’m Going To Eat One Of Those Multicolored Detergent Pods. This, as far as I can tell, was the first major public point of acknowledgment that Tide Pod eating is a thought in many people’s minds.

This allowed the idea to kind of come alive on the internet and many small groups started joking about eating Tide Pods, particularly on Twitter and Tumblr. In mid 2017 CollegeHumor made a video about the same topic [2].

I’m not sure where the actual inflection point was, but at some point this joke started becoming super mainstream. It happened sometime in December of 2017 where the biggest accounts from ‘weird twitter’ joked about the meme, tan being one of the biggest ones.

At some point this joke bled over from weird twitter to mainstream twitter, with people joking about eating Tide Pods (sometime in late December).

This bled over into YouTube, where challenge videos have become a weird trope of doing the craziest thing to get views. A small YouTuber realized that there was an opportunity to capitalize on this trend by actually eating Tide Pods (though I think this was ironically) and on January 7th, 2018 TheAaronSwan669 [3] made the first version of the Tide Pod Challenge. This gained a bit of traction and other YouTubers started joining the trend and doing the Tide Pod Challenge. Many of these YouTubers have audiences that are kids/teenagers who I think did not get the ironic nature of this trend and the fact that YouTubers were doing this for views - and decided to do the Tide Pod Challenge themselves at home. This was where the challenge really went mainstream when news outlets were picking up on the trend (as some kids did go to the hospital because of this, though I’m pretty sure the number is not as large as morning shows make it out to be).

The next iteration of this, which we’re currently in the middle of, is making foods look like Tide Pods. Some examples of which are a pizzeria in in Brooklyn (of course).

As far as I can tell this trend is on the downwards slope right now, the peak being the media’s coverage of it.

2015 The Onion

So Help Me God, I’m Going To Eat One Of Those Multicolored Detergent Pods
Dylan DelMonico
4-5 minutes

Anybody who knows me will tell you the same thing: I get what I want. Whether it’s food, being held, my binky, you name it—if I decide I’d like it, you damn well better believe I don’t rest until I get it, one way or another. And from the very second I saw those blue and red detergent pods come out of that shopping bag last week, I knew immediately that, come hell or high water, I would eat one of those things.

So with God as my witness, I swear to you: I’m going to find that container of multicolored pods, I’m going to take one out, I’m going to shove it in my mouth, and I’m going to chew it up and swallow it down, and nothing and no one is going to stand in my way.

You can’t be expected to keep an eye on me 24/7, and of course, you have to sleep at some point.

Oh, but please don’t let me stop you—by all means, go and hide those delicious-looking little pods wherever you think they’ll be safe from me. You can put them on a high shelf or in the back of a cabinet, or even out in the garage; it makes no difference to me. You can tell me over and over again that they’re not food, but just know that the moment I get my little fist around one, it’s food now.

If we’re being frank, though, you might as well just set a whole tub of those things down right inside my playpen. Or hell, just place one directly into my mouth, because guess what? That’s exactly where it’s going to end up sooner or later anyway.

But I know you people well enough by now to understand you’d never give in that easily, despite the complete futility of it. No matter how hard you try to play this pointless little game of keep-away, it’s not going to change a thing. Mark my words: One of these days, you’re going to badly underestimate me. “Oh,” you’ll say, “he can only really walk a couple steps at a time.” Or, “Oh, he’s only got four teeth.” Or, “Oh, we were able to stop him right before he drank that bright-colored antifreeze that one time, so this will be easy.” Please! Without even knowing it, you’re playing right into my hands! Because the instant you let your guard down for even a split second—BOOM!—it’s a detergent pod right down the hatch.

And you will let your guard down. You’re being pulled in so many different directions—cooking dinner, running errands, making phone calls—whereas I’ve only got one thing on my mind: those big, beautiful pods. You’re so very busy, aren’t you? You can’t be expected to keep an eye on me 24/7, and of course, you have to sleep at some point. Bingo! That’s prime detergent-eating time!

You see, every single time you look away is another chance for me to cram as many of those colorful little things as I can into my mouth. And it’s during any of these moments, when you’re occupied by one of a million little daily distractions, that you’ll look down and I’ll be forearm-deep in the tub of pods with a whole slick of blue goo all over my chubby face.

So allow me to reiterate: This is 100 percent going to happen. The sealed plastic bucket that holds the detergent pods is a welcome challenge to me. I’ll make short work of the lid and the inner zip-lock bag, and then all that stands between me and slurping down that glorious, vibrant liquid is a thin film of rapidly dissolving plastic that will melt away on my tongue like so much dust scattered by the wind. And at last, I will have what I want more than anything in this world.

Then, and only then, will I finally be free to eat out of the cat box.

Uh oh lawsuit

[bitontheslide]

Let them eat Tide ... i'm sure that would have been more appropriate back in the day

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Ashley.

It wouldn't be a described as a "challenge" if people had no idea that it could be harmful.

Well there was the 'ice bucket challenge' which wasn't harmful..that springs to mind. I am sure they have been more.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Ashley.

It wouldn't be a described as a "challenge" if people had no idea that it could be harmful.

A lot probably think that the challenge is just that it doesn't taste good. Not that they contain harmful and corrosive substances that could cause major damage to their stomachs. They get the idea that loads of people are doing it and assume that it can't be all that dangerous.

I'm not saying that doing it isn't completely and utterly daft - I'm just taking objection to the idea that a silly 10 or 11 year old deserves to permanently damage themselves or die "for the sake of the gene pool". I mean really.

Yes an adult doing this would be totally on them, but any young person doing something stupid and accidentally harming themself or even killing themself is nothing short of a tragedy. I really can't understand any mindset that would dictate otherwise.

[edited to add] I have hammered home how harmful this is to my daughter. She's 8, she's easily one of the brightest kids in her class, she's quite "grown up" for her age in many ways... And yeah I have felt the need to make the consequences of doing something like this very clear, because I can TOTALLY see her being daft enough to do it if "her friends did it" and she thought it would be just like getting soap in your mouth.

[Maru]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

A lot probably thinks that the challenge is just that it doesn't taste good. Not that they contain harmful and corrosive substances that could cause major damage to their stomachs. They get the idea that loads of people are doing it and assume that it can't be all that dangerous.

I'm not saying that doing it isn't completely and utterly daft - I'm just taking objection to the idea that a silly 10 or 11 year old deserves to permanently damage themselves or die "for the sake of the gene pool". I mean really.

Yes an adult doing this would be totally on them, but any young person doing something stupid and accidentally harming themself or even killing themself is nothing short of a tragedy. I really can't understand any mindset that would dictate otherwise.

I don't know that changing the coloring on a box would help though. Tide should maybe consider altering the product to look less edible. Because apparently it looks like candy... (I've never seen one)

And yeah, there are some kids who are just too gullible and sometimes it's just a case of their peers make a joke and not realizing just how gullible they really are...

For example, at one of my husband's childhood jobs, some of his coworkers had supposedly joked with one of the others who was tasked to clean the extremely dirty bathroom that if he mixed bleach and ammonia it makes a better cleaner... they assumed he knew you couldn't mix the two. Well, one hospital trip later... he survived, but they never saw him again after that.

And then of course, there's scientists like this who claim you can drink Roundup because it's so safe...

Youtube video

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

A lot probably think that the challenge is just that it doesn't taste good. Not that they contain harmful and corrosive substances that could cause major damage to their stomachs. They get the idea that loads of people are doing it and assume that it can't be all that dangerous.

I'm not saying that doing it isn't completely and utterly daft - I'm just taking objection to the idea that a silly 10 or 11 year old deserves to permanently damage themselves or die "for the sake of the gene pool". I mean really.

Yes an adult doing this would be totally on them, but any young person doing something stupid and accidentally harming themself or even killing themself is nothing short of a tragedy. I really can't understand any mindset that would dictate otherwise.

[edited to add] I have hammered home how harmful this is to my daughter. She's 8, she's easily one of the brightest kids in her class, she's quite "grown up" for her age in many ways... And yeah I have felt the need to make the consequences of doing something like this very clear, because I can TOTALLY see her being daft enough to do it if "her friends did it" and she thought it would be just like getting soap in your mouth.

I agree with this. I find the 'darwin award' and such thats usually posted with stuff like this really distasteful when talking about very young kids.

My stepdaughters friends were all doing some challenge that could actually leave them with 3rd degree burns..But they didn't actually realise how dangerous it was..as they were only like 11 at the time. They thought they may get a little scab or something.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-new...juries-9575751

That was it^

I had warned her against it, as I had seen the stories so luckily she did not take part. She did try to tell her friends but they just wrote her off as a 'chicken'

To adults its obviously mental and dangerous. But kids just don't see it that way.

[bitontheslide]

if you swallow enough of anything it will kill you eventually. The question I have is how much detergent could you actually manage to swallow before you gagged it all back up. Surely that must figure into the equation too.

[Cherie]

The reason there are warnings in the UK is that there was an increase in young children thinking they were sweets due to the pretty colours and swallowing them, there was a news item about this not so long ago, the issue isn't the damage they do to the stomach, if they contain bleach they burn the throat on the way down and the voice box can be irreparably damaged.

[Ashley.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

A lot probably think that the challenge is just that it doesn't taste good. Not that they contain harmful and corrosive substances that could cause major damage to their stomachs. They get the idea that loads of people are doing it and assume that it can't be all that dangerous.

I'm not saying that doing it isn't completely and utterly daft - I'm just taking objection to the idea that a silly 10 or 11 year old deserves to permanently damage themselves or die "for the sake of the gene pool". I mean really.

Yes an adult doing this would be totally on them, but any young person doing something stupid and accidentally harming themself or even killing themself is nothing short of a tragedy. I really can't understand any mindset that would dictate otherwise.

[edited to add] I have hammered home how harmful this is to my daughter. She's 8, she's easily one of the brightest kids in her class, she's quite "grown up" for her age in many ways... And yeah I have felt the need to make the consequences of doing something like this very clear, because I can TOTALLY see her being daft enough to do it if "her friends did it" and she thought it would be just like getting soap in your mouth.

I wasn't aiming my comment at young children. From what I've seen, several of the people who submit themselves to these challenges are people who are old enough to know better. Those are the ones that I will not give my sympathies to, and I don't think we should feel the need to warn those people what not to do, because we've never had to do so in the past and the problem has very rarely occurred.

I doubt the person who started this ridiculous craze was a young child.

[Tom4784]

It's not young kids that have prompted this, it's a youtube craze with youtubers who are old enough to know better eating these things for views, it's those people I don't care about.

If someone is old enough to vote yet think eating a detergent tablet is a good idea then I have no time to feel sorry for them.