That's the Mother Freaking Tea!

This short video was found on the widely used app Tik Tok. While there are many short videos that follow this trend, this was the first video I found that didn’t swear or include anther promoting message within the same video. While it is not a legitimate or published ad, provided by the straw makers AordKing, all videos posted about the “metal straws” promote the purchase of their products.

In order to understand the “text” of this ad, or the reason for the video itself, there are a couple of background facts the viewer should know.

1. Firstly, what is Tik Tok? Tik Tok is an app that connects people worldwide to short videos other create. The user can sing a long to popular songs, watch artist videos of nature, and anything else the user desires to explore. Mostly this app is famous for short, typically 15 second long, funny videos that feature comedians, memes, jokes, and reactions.

2. What is an AordKing metal straw? AordKing is known for having metal straws that collapse into a small rectangular case that fits onto one’s key chain. Making them easy to carry around. The various pastel colors that one can buy for the case keeps the keychain from being unattractive or an eyesore.

3. Why are people using metal straws? It originally started as a trend to “save the turtles” and “save the ocean.” Instead of using plastic straws that are harmful to turtles if ingested, people are moving to replace those with reusable metal straws to cut back on the garbage that gets lost in the ocean.

4. The use of metal straws has really gotten popular among middle and high school females. Since middle and high school are critical times for an adolescent to join the “popular kids” and be accepted into the group, everyone who gets a metal straw is allowed to join the “popular kids” and be accepted.

5. What is “the tea?” This tea is, sadly, not referring to the delicious drink that one brews in a kettle on top of the stove and adds leaves or spices to create flavor. “Tea” is today’s word for gossip or information that one needs to know about a certain subject. So when the girl in the video states “Here’s the mother freaking tea” she is drawing attention to the fact that people need to use metal straws instead of plastic straws. Millions of people have created similar videos to this one, following the same trend to raise awareness of the same message; use metal straws.

6. The actions of the video. As stated earlier, this video is one of a million in the fact that all the videos are structured the same way. Show off the metal straw in the container, show off whatever the creators drink of choice is (in this case it is Starbucks but there have been McDonalds and many others too), then take a sip to boast about said drink, and finally hit the screen and say “Here’s the mother freaking tea.” The reason for tapping the screen aggressively is to make sure the viewer is actually paying attention to the metal straw message being filmed.

When one first sees these videos they may think that the young of the world is in danger. However, there is a rhyme and reason for why so many people, even adults now, make these types of videos for the whole world to see. To save the turtles! And that’s the real mother freaking tea.