The internet has a strange obsession with eating laundry tablets. Stop eating laundry tablets

Do not eat any laundry tablets. No matter how much you see it on the internet.

You may have seen a lot of memes which try to encourage you to eat laundry tablets.

Interest in it is, for some baffling reason, on the rise:

Right out the gate let's clear up a few things. Eating a laundry detergent tablet or pod can kill you. It's detergent.

Interest in the self-harming activity grew around 2015 when the Onion published a satirical piece from the perspective of a child hell-bent on eating a laundry detergent tablet.

In March 2017, College Humour posted a comedy sketch about a man who fights the urge to eat a laundry tablet, knowing that they can cause him serious damage.

It then began to turn up as an in-joke on subreddits.

Then the meme was born and hit Tumblr, specifically dragging the brand Tide into it:

Twitter, unfortunately, ran with it:

A spokesperson for the brand Tide told BuzzFeed News:

Nothing is more important to us than the safety of the people who use our products.

Our laundry pacs are a highly concentrated detergent meant to clean clothes and they’re used safely in millions of households every day. They should only be used to clean clothes and kept up, closed and away from children.

You can read the full usage guide here. You can stay up to date with the terrible health-risking meme here.

If it's not clear to you yet, do not eat laundry detergent under any circumstances. You will do damage to your health.

HT Mashable

More: This lovely advert about laundry makes a surprising and potent point about feminism