Would You Eat A Virus-Shaped Popsicle?

Licking influenza has never been so pleasurable.

San Francisco based artist Wei Li creates popsicles that resemble deadly viruses and bacteria.

Wei Li / Via boldoritalic.com

From left to right: chickenpox, MRSA, HIV, E.coli, and influenza.

She also makes popsicles that look like prickly cacti.

Wei Li / Via boldoritalic.com

According to the art project, Dangerous Popsicles, "The spikiness of cacti are enough to stimulate your senses, even before your first taste."

The popsicles won't kill you. The treats are comprised solely of sugar and water.

Wei Li / Via boldoritalic.com

The popsicles are not laced with any real diseases.

But, apparently, that's a real thing too. In 2011, NPR reported that a woman attempted to sell chickenpox-laced lollipops, so that parents can expose their children to the disease. Thankfully, this is illegal.

Wei Li created the silicone mold for the sweets using a 3D printer.

Wei Li / Via boldoritalic.com

The purpose of the art project was to see if your mind and senses were tricked.

Wei Li / Via boldoritalic.com

Even though eating popsicles would normally be a pleasurable experience, does the thought of eating E.coli trigger a reaction of disgust? Wei Li asks on her website, "Does pain really bring pleasure? Is there beauty in user-unfriedly things?"

Li told Wired: "“I was hoping that people will lick the popsicles and enjoy the sensations on their tongues, but many people actually bite through the popsicles very quickly, and are embarrassed to lick them.”

Dec. 16, 2014, at 15:06 PM

E. coli and MRSA are bacteria. An earlier version of this post mislabeled them as viruses. (We still would not recommend eating them.)