- Taking to Twitter
Interspersed between heartfelt apologies to customers who’ve had trouble with Tide products and queries about the Tide product range, Tide’s Twitter account (@tide) now lists some replies that would make more sense coming from a health-care provider than a consumer brand. “Please drink a glass of water or milk and contact the Poison Control Center(800-222-1222) or a Doctor Immediately,” one reads. Another advises “Our Product is absolutely not to be consumed.”
- Same Look, New Terrible Taste
In 2015, P&G started coating the pods in a bitter-tasting substance. The adjustment, which came three years after the 2012 launch of the product, was aimed at preventing children from biting into the pods. If the current spate of poison control cases is any indication, it hasn’t discouraged their adolescent counterparts.
- Intra-Internet cooperation
The company has worked with YouTube and Facebook to take down “Tide Pod Challenge” posts, which are thought to be responsible for the recent rise in oral consumption. Though there are debates about the extent to which social media platforms should be involved in policing content, both platforms have cooperated with P&G to remove posts as quickly as possible on the basis that they encourage harmful behavior.
