One of the latest, and we might add, craziest, things going on out there with young people is the unbelievably scary “challenge” where kids are putting Tide laundry detergent pods into their mouths and chewing on them. It’s something the company has been scrambling to condemn. Now it has New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski in its corner to spread the message that the pods are just for doing laundry, and nothing else.
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
I’ve partnered with @Tide to make sure you know, Tide PODs are for doing laundry. Nothing else! https://t.co/Oo7n7ZZpbG
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) January 13, 2018
According to Dr. Alfred Aleguas, managing director of the Florida Poison Information Center, kids who chew on these pods can “quickly become very sick and lose consciousness,” per ABC News.
Even worse, there have been 10 reported fatalities linked to this product.
“Currently we are aware of about 10 deaths since laundry pods came out into the market many years ago,” said Buerkle.
It’s great that Gronkowski can come out so strongly against such a dangerous practice. He’s known for being a party animal, but what people don’t know is that Gronkowski is actually an animal when it comes to helping others, too.
Don’t put these pods in your mouth, folks. And parents, please make sure you talk to your kids about this so they don’t do something they’ll regret, or worse.