One of TikTok's biggest trends was the apple juice challenge which saw floods of people biting into plastic bottle of the drink.
The challenge has been ongoing since 2020 when TikTok grew significantly in popularity. People doing the challenge bought a small bottle of Martinellie's apple juice which comes in the shape of an apple and are only available in the United States.
The apple juice challenge has racked up over 255m views on TikTok with several popular creators attempting it.
TikTok users would bit into the plastic bottle - without breaking it - and claimed it imitated the sound of biting into a real apple. The trend had accounts including Lizzo, Charli D'Amelio, Kyle Thomas and more biting the juice bottles.
TikToker Munera (@iconiccpinkk) took it upon herself to figure out why the small plastic bottle was able to make the sounds. In a TikTok she cuts open the bottle and reveals there are three layers of plastic. "That's probably what's making the sounds," she said.
While some speculated the plastic was designed to make that noise as marketing technique, Martinelli's actually put out a statement saying the do not condone biting into plastic.
The 150 year old company said: "Martinelli’s is having a golden moment on the popular social channel TikTok. Hundreds of thousands of Gen Zer’s and celebs like Lizzo are taking a “bite” out of the brand’s iconic apple-shaped plastic bottle to see for themselves (and their followers) if it sounds like they’re really biting into an apple. Spoiler alert: it does!"
It added it wants consumers to know that the juice 'tastes a lot better than the bottle'.
Martinellis said the trend made the small plastic bottles of apple juice difficult to find in stores, just like toilet paper was hard to come by during the first major Covid-19 lockdown.
