Consumption of Tide Pods is the act of ingesting laundry detergent pods of the Tide Pods brand, which are produced under the Procter & Gamble's Tide brand name and have been sold since 2012. Like most detergents, Tide Pods can be deadly if ingested and have been labeled as a health risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Media reports have discussed how children and those with dementia could endanger their health or life by consuming the pods, mistaking them for candy. Between 2012 and 2013, poison control centers reported over 7,000 cases of young children eating laundry pods, and ingestion of Procter & Gamble laundry pods had resulted in six deaths by 2017. In response to the dangers, Procter & Gamble changed Tide Pod containers to an opaque design, introduced warning labels, and added a bitter tasting chemical to the pod contents. In late December 2017, Tide Pods emerged within Internet meme culture. Teenagers were intrigued by the texture of the tide pod, as it resembled Jell-O. In early 2018, their presence in Internet memes led to the "Tide Pod Challenge", which involved a dare to intentionally consume the pods. Responding to the growing media outcry, Google and Facebook started removing videos that featured the challenge, and Procter & Gamble aired numerous advertisements urging people to avoid eating the pods. History of health risks and consumption Laundry detergent pods have been in use in the United States since 2010, although their use in Europe occurred a decade prior to 2012. During the Academy Awards telecast in 2012, P&G introduced their Tide Pods "in a sparkling, vibrant commercial." The health risks posed by the ingestion of Tide Pods—particularly by children—have been noted by several media outlets, which have referenced the visual similarity the pods have to candy as a reasoning behind their consumption. Tide's laundry detergent pods follow a trend of "food imitating products", in which makers of consumer products design their cleaners and personal hygiene products to "[exhibit] food or drink attributes." John Allen, an anthropologist at Indiana University described Tide Pods as "sort of like a cross between candy and a chicken nugget," acknowledging them as "bite sized, processed, colorful, with a non-threatening texture." In September 2012, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer commented on the appeal of pods, "These pods were supposed to make household chores easier, not tempt our children to swallow harmful chemicals. I saw