‘Nope’: Company Responds To TikTok Trend Promoting Eating Wrappers
Social media platforms, particularly TikTok, have been the source of strange and potentially dangerous trends that adolescents and adults alike have participated in over the course of the past several years.
A recent example involves the popular Fruit Roll-Ups snack and has resulted in an official statement from that company refuting the claims made in a series of TikTok videos.
According to reports, a number of individuals have recorded themselves eating the fruit snacks without removing the cellophane wrapper, claiming that the entire product is edible.
The trend, insofar as it has become one on the app, appears to stem from one woman who insisted in the short-form video that she was eating the packaging. In its own video, the company that produces Fruit Roll-Ups revealed an individual attempting — and failing — to recreate the stunt.
“Nope,” a company representative concluded. “Plastic.”
Other TikTok users offered their own assessment of the trend, including one who asserted that the woman was “removing the plastic and rerolling them because it’s going viral,” suggesting that she was doing it “all for engagement” on the platform.
“I swear she’s literally just resealed it after removing the plastic,” another commenter determined.
TikTok does not need the additional bad press amid bipartisan calls for a nationwide ban on the Chinese-owned company.
CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before Congress this week to field pointed questions that primarily hinged on the platform’s ties to the Chinese government, but also touched on the potentially damaging material that children can be exposed to by using the app.
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) referenced her own experience with the platform, noting that she created a profile and within a few minutes its algorithm had begun delivering videos promoting “dangerous” challenges as well as content featuring self-harm and eating disorders.
For his part, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) cited mounting evidence that prolonged use of the app and exposure to such content results in “exacerbated feelings of emotional stress” among young people.
Fruit Roll-Ups have also become the target of another trend that seems to be easier to replicate. Many users are putting scoops of ice cream inside of the snack and freezing it for a crunchy, and some say tasty, treat.
