Procter & Gamble, the parent company to Tide, announced on Friday that it plans to package and ship Tide laundry detergent products in a cardboard box that includes a twist-to-open spout.
It's called the Tide Eco-Box and it's been designed "to reduce the environmental impact of shipping laundry detergent in eCommerce," a spokesperson for P&G North America Fabric Care told BuzzFeed News.
According to CNN, the new box uses 60% less plastic than shipping a bottle of detergent and will cost the company less overall to ship because it weighs less and takes up less space in a delivery truck.
The boxed tide detergent will be made available for giant online retail channels like Amazon and Wal-Mart starting in January.
While this is all great for e-commerce and (sensible) consumers, the packaging very closely resembles that of a very popular (and consumable) boxed product.
And of course, there's the whole Tide Pod ~moment~ we had to live through earlier this year — you know, the one where the government had to weigh in to remind people not to eat laundry detergent?
People joked that the new packaging will make it "so much more convenient" consume laundry detergent...
...and that they've basically marketed it as boxed detergent wine.
People were excited to try it. "If they don't want us to eat it why do they keep making it seem so delicious?" someone asked.
People made tasting menus.
Some have even kicked off a #TideWineChallenge hashtag.
After the Tide Pod debacle, people were truly baffled by the optics of this decision.
When asked if P&G was aware of the dark futility of the internet, and if the company had any concerns, the spokesperson provided BuzzFeed News with the following statement:
"We all know laundry detergent is for cleaning clothes. To be sure people know this is detergent, we put a large picture of our Tide bottle on the side of the box. Whether your Tide comes in a box or a bottle, it should be stored up and away, out of the reach of children."