Twizzler Challenge

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About

Twizzler Challenge (hashtag: #TwizzlerChallenge) is a social media dare game in which two participants must share a single stick of the licorice candy from the opposite ends and meet in the middle for a kiss. Launched in late March 2015, the challenge aims to benefit New York Collaborates for Autism NYCA), a non-profit organization devoted to addressing and fulfilling the special needs of people with autism, following the path of the Ice Bucket Challenge that raised millions of dollars in donation for the ALS foundation in 2014.

Origin

On March 9th, 2015, during the live broadcast of Comedy Central’s charity special program Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs, a viewer called in and requested Willie Geist, the host of NBC's morning news program Today, and Uzo Abuda, a cast member of Orange is the New Black, to take on the challenge (shown below) for the benefit of medical research on Autism.

The challenge can be seen as a tribute to the famous "spaghetti kissing" scene from the 1955 Disney animated romantic musical comedy film Lady and the Tramp (shown below).

Spread

In the following week, numerous TV personalities and celebrities shared their videos of participating in Twizzler Challenge, beginning with Willie Geist and Meredith Vieira, the host of NBC's Meredith Vieira Show on March 12th, followed by Regis Philbin and Hoda Kotb on March 23rd (shown below).

On March 18th, Instagram user Allison Williams shared a video^[12] that shows her and Lena Dunham taking the Twizzler Challenge with the official hashtag #NYC4A, which has garnered more than 8,500 likes in less than a week.

News Media Coverage

On March 18th, Jezebel^[7] reported on the emerging trend in an article titled "The Twizzler Challenge: Because the Ice Bucket Challenge Wasn't Enough," followed by mainstream news outlets like Fox News^[3], TIME^[6], PBS^[5] and NBC Today^[9], as well as internet culture blogs and news sites, including Cheezburger^[2], The Huffington Post^[10] and Uproxx^[4], among many others.