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Like most detergent products, Tide Pods, a laundry detergent pod sold by Procter & Gamble (P&G) since 2012, can be deadly if ingested. Media reports have discussed how children and those with dementia could mistake laundry pods for candy and endanger their health or life by consuming them, and they were named an emerging health risk by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012. Between 2012 and 2013, poison control centers reported over 7,000 cases of young children eating laundry pods, and ingestion of laundry pods produced by P&G had resulted in six deaths by 2017. In response to the dangers, P&G 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. 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 to remove videos that featured the challenge, and P&G aired numerous advertisements urging people to avoid eating the pods.