I’ve always thought it was curious that people would commit an illegal act, have a friend record it, and then post it online, with their face visible to anyone. I’m sure many of us have seen the short clip of the woman in a grocery store, taking out a container of ice cream, removing the lid, licking the contents, then placing the lid back on a replacing the container in the freezer. Now it looks like she may have been identified and the penalty (state) for a conviction? A minimum. of 2 years in prison with a maximum sentence of 20 years. That seems harsh but the issue is contaminating food, on purpose, possibly causing harm to others.
Since that incident, another genius posted a clip in a store, taking a drink from a bottle of mouthwash, gargling with it, then spitting it back into the bottle and replacing the bottle on the shelf – again, easily identifiable, not even trying to hide their identity. Oh it’s funny to them, I guess, just a harmless prank. I don’t see it that way and I hope that since that clip has gone viral on Twitter, that person is identified and arrested as well. I don’t think that any of this is new, but what seems to be new is recording the act on video and posting it online. Maybe these people believe that instead of going to jail, they’ll become instant Internet celebrities. Oh, I except that in both these cases, the people will receive their 15 minutes of fame, but that will be in front of a judge, when their sentenced.
What’s next I wonder? Will convenience store robbers start taking selfies of their robberies and posting them on Instagram? I can easily imagine some rocket scientist doing just that. Seriously, the police have to be sitting back laughing at these people because all the evidence required for an arrest and conviction has been handed them by the perpetrator. I have to think that in both these cases, the person hasn’t a clue that they’ve committed a crime and convicting either of these will probably not prevent the acts themselves from occurring, but we’ll probably not see their video’s anymore. In fact, what this will do is have these stores increase their own video surveillance which of course will mean that prices for customers will rise somewhat.
Personally, I’m willing to pay a little more if I have the comfort that I know the food I buy in a grocery is safe from these pranksters – or should I label them felons?
Conservative Skeptic 
I think you are right. It is all about Internet fame (and maybe the people doing this stuff ate one too many Tide pods too). The Blue Bell thing is really frustrating because the company refuses to put safety seals on their products. They claim that their lids freeze to the ice cream and that this makes tampering easy to detect. Having bought some of their ice cream before the price went up to $8/carton, I can say with confidence that this simply isn’t true.
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YUCK! We buy Breyers which has a safety seal. Yeah, all consumables should have a safety seal. There are a lot of shampoos, lotions…including children’s products…which do not. I had no idea people were becoming this common and crude and ill-mannered and poorly parented…or drunk and high and stupid. I shouldn’t be surprised, though.
I am fairly certain of what my reaction would be should I actually see someone do this and it wouldn’t be quiet or mild, but more along the lines of “What the fuck are you doing!? Security!” Maybe short of tackling the person myself, but not so sure. This is something we could all be outraged about…yes, poor grammar, too tired.
I liked the interabang and wish it would come back.
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