Poison control officials in America are baffled as more and more cases of exposure to liquid laundry packets arise. Especially because the ingestion is 100% intentional. That’s right, there are teens out there that are eating Tide Pods on purpose.

The notion that everyone wants to eat Tide Pods has been a long-running internet meme since 2013. The trend has only been growing, and what started off as a seemingly harmless joke on the internet has actually landed 39 people in the hospital in the first 11 days of 2018 alone.

The problem isn’t in the memes, which truthfully can be quite funny, but in the challenge, itself. Most of the teens that are involved in this will joke all they want, but would never actually eat a Tide Pod. However, there are the few that against all logical reasoning, will do it anyway despite knowing the huge health risks.

We still have to ask ourselves the question, why do people want to eat the Tide Pods? No matter how utterly ridiculous this meme seems, there is still an odd human truth to it. Undeniably, Tide Pods look like they could be put in a bowl and served on a counter. The truth is that it all comes down to our evolutionary psychology framework.

Why do we want to eat Tide Pods?

The first question is, why do we want to eat Tide pods?

Well, look at them. Their beautiful colorful hues, glossy complexion and their scent make them almost downright irresistible. Humans naturally are attracted to objects that are glossy. Glossy foods indicate nourishment and hydration. In a way, the Tide Pods might even mimic a fleshy piece of fruit to us. It’s no wonder we’re craving them.

Even though they know it's poison, why are they still eating Tide Pods?

The second question, however, is even though they know it’s poison, why do some people still eat Tide Pods? The answer to this is something that we all have called the optimism bias. This is the belief that each of us is more likely to experience good outcomes and less likely to experience bad outcomes.

We disregard the reality of an overall situation because we think we are excluded from the potential negative effects. In other words, it’s the “That will never happen to me” bias. Basically, this means that people can be cocky, and will have to learn the hard way.

Even though the memes are funny, the results are not. At the end of the day, there are people that are deliberately putting poison into their body. For what? For attention, or YouTube views, or retweets? All of those people should know that dying isn’t worth it. Even if it somehow brought you internet fame, truthfully, you’d be “famous” for less than 2 weeks and then forgotten forever.

And also, dead. For some reason, since the start of 2018, the Tide Pod sensation has been sweeping the nation all over again. So it's now more important than ever to stop encouraging other people to eat Tide Pods.

There will be a day in the future when someone asks, “Do you remember when people were eating laundry detergent?” And we will all laugh at how bizarre we humans are. However, we are also resilient. We have gotten through the 2012 apocalypse, the cinnamon challenge, Silly Bandz and one day we will stop eating tide pods.

Call the national poison help hotline at 1-800-222-1222 or text POISON to 797979 to save the number on your phone.
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