The internet is chuckling after a U.S. consumer protection agency issued a warning to Americans not to eat soap after an Uber Eats ad during the Super Bowl showed a celebrity doing just that—and others eating far worse things, for that matter.
The ad, designed to highlight the many non-edible items now available for purchase and delivery on the Uber Eats app, showed its stable of stars biting into things like soap, lipstick and even a light bulb for a laugh.
Joining in on the silliness was the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, who took to Twitter immediately after the ad aired to be like, "Please don't eat soap, we're begging you."
At least we think it was meant to be silly. This is a nation where multiple teens had to be hospitalized after eating Tide Pods for internet clout a few years ago, after all...
Anyway, see the USCPSC's tweet below.
Uber Eats seems to be attempting to come for the likes of Amazon and shopping apps like Instacart with its new Super Bowl ad campaign. In the ads, stars like White Lotus' Jennifer Coolidge, Succession's Nicholas Braun, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah and Goop magnate Gwyneth Paltrow are delivered household essentials like deodorant and the aforementioned soap by Uber Eats.
The joke of the ads is that Uber Eats is so good at delivering household items now, people forget that what they're being delivered isn't edible.
Or as the company put it in a tweet featuring the ad:
"Now delivering Eats."
"And Don’t Eats."
"Please, don’t get them mixed up!"
Of course, hilarity of precisely that sort is what ensues in the ad. In one moment, Braun is seen descending into horrified confusion after squirting dish soap into his mouth like it's chocolate syrup. In another, Coolidge bites into a lipstick after assuming she can "eats it" because it came from Uber Eats.
In probably the ad's best moment, Paltrow remarks quizzically, "This tastes funny... not bad, but funny" after biting into a candle labeled "This smells like my va..." (You can probably guess the rest.)
In the end, it turned out the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's warning was just a joke--the tweet was part of a viral thread of increasingly ridiculous warnings about product safety timed to coincide with the wacky Uber Eats ad.
And on Twitter, people really leaned in and took off with the USCPSC's joke, to hilarious results.
No word as yet if Uber Eats' ad has resulted in a spike in soap eating, but watch this space.
