PepsiCo Reportedly Wants Twitter to Delete All Jokes on 'Kurkure Has Plastic'

At a time when the world is dealing with plastic pollution and the threat it poses to our environment, PepsiCo is busy deleting tweets and videos that claim Kurkure is made of plastic.

If you type 'Kurkure has plastic' on YouTube, the video platform will throw infinite results back at you, of curious people burning Kurkure corn puff product to "prove" the snack indeed contains plastic.

The snack has long been a topic of discussion on websites such a Quora, where users tried debunking the myth. "Kurkure does melt when you burn it, but again most of the salty snacks do the same. It burns because it contains carbohydrates. The plastic-like substance that you see in Kurkure is nothing but starch," writes one user.



Such is the impact of this plastic "rumour" and long-running joke that the bosses of Kurkure, PepsiCo, have decided to go on a witch hunt to delete videos and social media posts.

TROLOLOL! This has become my favourite Twitter conversation of the year. When brands just don't get it... pic.twitter.com/pmxXVwOVos

— Sahil Rizwan (@SahilRiz) March 3, 2015

The company has even obtained an interim order from the Delhi High Court which instructs social media platforms to immediately block years of "defamatory" posts, reported Medianama.

The petition, as reported by Medianama, states that PepsiCo has invested more than ₹2 crores to dispel the Kurkure rumours and has demanded damages worth ₹2.1 crore from the defendants in addition to the links being ordered to block.

A Twitter user who goes by the handle @Nikhiljoisr had recently posted PepsiCo's defamation documents against Twitter amongst other social media sites. He claimed that one of his tweets was used as an "evidence" when the company filed the suit.

"Someone from PepsiCo India is suing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube regarding defamation of one of their products and a tweet from my old account is being used as part of the evidence...I don't even..," he wrote.

Someone from PepsiCo India is suing Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and YouTube regarding defamation of one of their products and a tweet from my old account is being used as part of the evidence...I don't even... pic.twitter.com/sxkWTUIPwG — Nikhil Jois (@nikhiljoisr) July 21, 2018

And it begins?

Take this exchange between @prasanto and Kurkure's Twitter handle — this tweet has been withheld in India in spite of the fact that he was clearly referring to fake news and not spreading it — a fact that PepsiCo was specifically made aware of. And this tweet is from 2014. pic.twitter.com/ixOqMtCjeY

— Aroon Deep (@AroonDeep) July 26, 2018

Or take this tweet by @BuzzFeedIndia, which makes fun of WhatsApp forwards. It is also no longer accessible if your Twitter location is set to India. Here's the link, see for yourself: https://t.co/VgEHMMgp2I pic.twitter.com/cyiU0SOcZC — Aroon Deep (@AroonDeep) July 26, 2018

Or take this jibe by @samitbasu on Kurkure's taste — this too has been withheld in India. PepsiCo first seemed to take this comment in good humour, and later moved the Delhi High Court to get Twitter to take the post down. pic.twitter.com/EZGvja2rmi

— Aroon Deep (@AroonDeep) July 26, 2018

For obvious reasons, Twitter users haven't taken the news very well. And the jokes around Kurkure and plastic have multiplied manifold. Oh, the irony.

Did you know: Plastic is made of Kurkure. — Aisi Taisi Democracy (@AisiTaisiDemo) July 26, 2018

Wow PepsiCo has blocked tweets about KURKURE and PLASTIC according to this piece article about KURKURE and PLASTIC, wonder if other companies in KURKURE IS MADE OF PLASTIC type of situations would do the same https://t.co/L4EmGTmnrd

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) July 26, 2018

I don't know if Kurkure tastes like plastic but if that's what plastic tastes like I'm never having plastic in my life even if the world runs out of food. — Sayantan Ghosh (@sayantansunnyg) July 26, 2018

"I don't know it for a fact that Kurkure is made from plastic, i just know it's true," said @billmaher (which i don't know for a fact but i know it's true)

— Siddharth Parwatay (@staticsid) July 26, 2018

So Pepsi took down a bunch of tweets about Kurkure being plastic? Man just when I was thinking of recycling them — Akkan Just Miss (@sridhar_deepak) July 26, 2018

Talking to Kurkure be like pic.twitter.com/pkiNbaZ3m7

— Rohan Venkataramakrishnan (@RohanV) July 26, 2018

This is so sad, can we burn that snack down

A post shared by All India Bakchod (@allindiabakchod) on Jul 26, 2018 at 2:10am PDT

Tweets from @prasanto and @samitbasu have been taken down in India. @PepsiCo cant even take a joke. https://t.co/iyy1W5oOKi — Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) July 26, 2018

Just shocking to me that people would even tweet that KURKURE IS MADE OF PLASTIC without cross checking it. Just shocking how people can make the assumption that KURKURE IS MADE OF PLASTIC. Why would anyone think KURKURE CONTAINS PLASTIC?

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) July 26, 2018

However, some defended Pepsi's move.

"In a country where people are killed over fake news, jokes are beyond people. I have personally been told by educated friends and strangers that kurkure is made of plastic. The idiocy of our society is beyond belief. I am with pepsi here," wrote one user.