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.

Laundry detergent pods have been in use in the United States since 2010, although their use in Europe began in 2002. During the Academy Awards telecast in 2012, P&G introduced their Tide Pods "in a sparkling, vibrant commercial."

The health risks posed by the ingestion of Tide Pods—particularly by children—have been noted by several media outlets, which have referenced the visual similarity the pods have to candy as a reasoning behind their consumption. Tide's laundry detergent pods follow a trend of "food imitating products", in which makers of consumer products design their cleaners and personal hygiene products to "[exhibit] food or drink attributes." John Allen, an anthropologist at Indiana University described Tide Pods as "sort of like a cross between candy and a chicken nugget," acknowledging them as "bite sized, processed, colorful, with a non-threatening texture."

In September 2012, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer commented on the appeal of pods, "These pods were supposed to make household chores easier, not tempt our children to swallow harmful chemicals. I saw one on my staffer's desk and I wanted to eat it." In October, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called them a health risk.

In 2012 and 2013, an average of one child was admitted to hospital every day as a result of eating Tide Pods. In March 2013, Consumer Reports reported that "since early 2012, poison control centers nationwide have received reports of nearly 7,700 pod-related exposures to children age five years and younger."

Individuals suffering from dementia have been reported to face health risks related to Tide Pods. Consumer Reports reported that between the Tide Pods' introduction in 2012 through early 2017, eight deaths had been reported due to the ingestion of laundry detergent pods; two of the eight deaths were children, while the other six were adults with dementia. Additionally, pods manufactured by P&G were responsible for six of the deaths.

During the popularity of Tide Pods as an Internet meme, in the month of January 2018, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) "recorded 606 exposures in children less than five years old," in addition to an increase in teen exposures. In January 2018, there were more teens exposed to pods than in all of 2016 or 2017.