The Beaning Trend May Not Be the Best Viral TikTok Prank to Participate In
Published Sept. 23 2021, 5:54 p.m. ET
Joining TikTok comes with its share of perks that include boosting connections, possibly creating viral content, and learning about cool life hacks. But when people create disrespectful and harmful challenges that impressionable kids try out, things can go left very quickly.
The latest trend that has been giving social media users and law enforcement pause is the Beaning Trend. At first, you might think it has something to do with a harmful dance challenge, but actually, it's a criminal act. Keep reading to get the lowdown on the Beaning Trend and why it’s inappropriate.
TikTok’s Beaning Trend consists of people pouring cans of beans onto doorsteps and running away.
Some kids have beans for brains! The Beaning Trend is a prank that involves people pouring cans of beans onto doorsteps and running away. According to Your Tango, the trend was first started in April 2021 by the TikTok account @bean.bandits.
In @bean.bandits's video, people can be seen throwing cans of beans on an unsuspecting victim’s doorstep. “We beaned someone’s front door,” the text in the video reads.
Your Tango shares that the trend spread like wildfire through the social app with various hashtags, like #beanbandits, #getbeaned, and #beanattack.
Making matters worse, reports share that other types of property, including cars, driveways, and public toilets are also being vandalized with beans.
The outlet points out that it was a now-deleted TikTok, originally posted on Aug. 31, 2021 from the @beanbandits account, that marked the return of the trend. The video reportedly garnered over 1.3 million views and received almost 200,000 likes.
Your Tango, via The Manchester Evening News, shares that British law enforcement has decided to intervene by “issuing a warning to shopkeepers and parents, advising them to keep an eye on any teens purchasing large amounts of beans.”
TikTok has seemingly removed all traces of the Beaning Trend’s hashtags.
Although TikTok developers haven’t released an official statement about the Beaning Trend, they’ve taken action. As of this writing, there are few to no traces of any of the three Beaning Trend hashtags.
Plus, users have slammed @bean.bandits for still having the video up on their page. In its comment section, many people question the creator about wasting food, vandalizing property, and simply being reckless.
“Wow, no home training at all. This is not funny,” one person commented.
“Yes, let’s just waste food that some[one] starving could have eaten and at the same time inconvenience others…comedy gold,” another person commented sarcastically.
Unfortunately, other users did not share the same sentiments. Some users wondered why people were upset by the prank, while others simply said that it wasn't not that serious.
There are so many cool ways to use TikTok to your advantage instead of vandalizing property with food. So far, there is no word of anyone being arrested for the prank, but we hope that TikTok’s decision to remove the hashtags will make the trend a distant memory.