Toilet Paper Hoarding
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About
Toilet Paper Hoarding refers to a series of memes which imagine toilet paper and hand sanitizer becoming a very valuable item and being accepted as currency during the COVID-19 pandemic. The memes gained significant popularity following reports of toilet paper shortage due to overdemand in Australia and other countries.
Origin
Starting in early February 2020, toilet paper shortages were reported in Hong Kong,[1] Singapore,[2] Australia[3] and other cities and countries. The shortages were caused by excessive demand due to shoppers stockpiling toilet paper which was triggered by the news of the COVID-19 outbreak spreading across the world during that period.
While the exact first meme about the shortage is unknown, some of the earliest posts about the toilet paper hoarding were posted on March 4th, 2020, following the reports about the "shortage in Australia." For example, a March 4th, 2020, tweet by Twitter user @Fynestchina received over 3,400 retweets and 17,000 likes in two weeks. A same-day tweet by @haveigotnews received over 1,600 retweets and 7,900 likes.
Spread
Starting on March 4th, memes about items like toilet paper and hand sanitizer being hoarded and used as a currency during the COVID-19 pandemic gained significant popularity online. For example, on May 9th, 2019, Twitter[4] user @mother3bear tweeted a photoshopped image of Arnold Schwarzenegger carrying a stacks of toilet (original author unknown. The edit received over 300 retweets and 1,000 likes (shown below, left). On March 14th, Redditor[5] d416 posted an edit of a Breaking Bad scene in which a stockpile of money is replaced with stacks of toilet paper rolls (shown below, right). The post received over 30,300 upvotes in two days.
In March 2020, notable memes about toilet paper being hoarded and used as currency appeared on all major online platforms, including posts on Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Bloomberg – Shortage Rumors Spark Toilet Paper Panic Buying in Hong Kong
[2] Bloomberg – Toilet Paper Is the Hot New Currency in Singapore and Hong Kong
[3] BBC – Coronavirus panic: Why are people stockpiling toilet paper?
[4] Twitter – @mother3bears
[5] Reddit – How much is enough?
Top Comments
TheManWithaPlan
Mar 17, 2020 at 01:10PM EDT
KumichouGamer
Mar 16, 2020 at 12:33PM EDT