Mom Spots a Warning Label in 4-Year-Old’s New Plastic Cup — Turns Out, Most of Us Ignore It
Canadian mom named Veronica (u/hotcoffeethanks) had a shocking realization when her four-year-old daughter received a plastic tumbler as a gift. Just when she was about to serve a drink to her kid in the tumbler, her eyes fell on an odd message printed on a label at the bottom. The message left her scratching her head in deep, hard contemplation about why someone even sold this tumbler in the first place. The comments section of her Reddit post went bustling with people who brewed up scoffing, witty, and contemptuous remarks about the companies that create these gaudy products.
Veronica was about to pour a beverage for her daughter in the cup when the label caught her attention, as per Newsweek. She took to Reddit to share the new fears and suspicions that were unlocking inside her after reading the message. She shared a carousel of two pictures of this gifted tumbler. The picture showed a transparent cup made of plastic that was tinted pink, flecked with colorful sticker doodles of rainbows, unicorns, clouds, stars, moons, and dots. Slipped inside the middle hole of its pink cap was a blue straw.
At the bottom, printed in big, bold letters, was a warning message in both French and English. “Decorative use only. Not suitable for food or beverage,” the message read. In a comment, she compared this tumbler to those flimsy kids' toys with button batteries, fancy stationery items, jewelry, and stuffed toys, reflecting upon the fact that these manufacturers create such products. Thankfully, she noticed it just in the nick of time, when she was washing it before using it for the first time. The warning message, she said, initially left her confused.
Why, she wondered, was this tumbler being sold after all? "My first thought was, 'Why even make a cup if you can't drink out of it?' I guess my daughter could use it to play pretend? But also why would she when she can use a real cup instead?” she said. In the comments section, Reddit users reinforced her monologue by inventing side-splitting scenarios about the whole episode. “It's like buying an eyeshadow palette and finding out most shades are ‘pigments not for use around the eye area.’ Ridiculous,” commented u/r_renfield.
The trap of plastic products
Others mocked that maybe the manufacturer built this tumbler merely for theatre purposes and not for drinking beverages. u/Kitsunegato jumped into the discussion and wrote, “And this is one of the reasons why I read the bottom of coffee mugs to make sure they are microwave/dishwasher safe because many modern aren't.” u/Titronnica took an insightful cue from the story, and shared it, “It's time to abandon plastic drinkware and dishware.” In one comment, u/Notmy_reelname said cynically, “Ask the gifters what's the purpose of this item if not food grade.”
The marketing ploy
u/CaptainMcSmokey felt that it’s unfair to have bought such an item only to realize that it couldn’t be used for the designated purpose. They suggested that Veronica at least put this gifted tumbler to some use, make it a pen holder or something, because throwing it away would inevitably feel bad. Their comment caused other people to wonder why do, the manufacturer sold it in the first place. “That’s what they want you to do. It’s a trap,” called out u/Aderka420. u/darkvern added, “It's a ploy to sell us more stationery, clearly the work of Big Pen companies.” The pink tumbler is just one illustration of what it means to put lipstick on the pig. A huge deception.
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