About

Save the Turtles is a catchphrase used on TikTok when commenting on the use of plastic straws usually to mock the character of a metal straw owner.

Origin

On August 12th, 2015, The Leatherback Trust uploaded a YouTube video in which people attempt to remove a plastic straw from a sea turtle's nostril (shown below). The video gained over 10.7 million views and 87,000 likes. The video was a major influence on the public's view of plastic straws. That year, TIME^[1] magazine published an article on the video and how it has influenced major companies like Starbucks to initial a plastic straw ban. The metal straw became known as a trendy item with Jeffree Star ^[2] selling metal straws on his cosmetic site.

Spread

In 2019, the character of a metal straw owner developed on TikTok as a trendy person. On March 16th, TikTok user psherman42wallaby uploaded an example of that character which gained over 46,000 likes and 1,000 shares in a month (shown below, left). On April 6th, @calvinthomas92 played the mocked the environmentally conscious character in a prank video (shown below, right). The video gained over 684,600 likes and 68,600 shares in several weeks.

On April 11th, @dahlia.jean uploaded a metal straw version of Here's the Mother Fucking Tea using the catchphrase. The video accumulated over 265,100 likes and 12,700 shares in two weeks (shown below, left). On April 26th, @DAVIDGEIPEL14 depicted a crowd of metal straw owners coming after him while yelling "save the turtles" (shown below, right). The video gained 271,100 likes and 17,100 shares in a week.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References