By Lily Bourne
Following a disturbing new trend on TikTok, influencers have begun creating videos focused on consuming excessive amounts of food to gain views and likes. They often order multiple meals from fast food restaurants such as Chipotle and Chick-fil-A, purposefully overfilling their plates for their viewers’ pleasure.
While this trend might seem harmless on the surface, it generates unhealthy relationships with food for its viewers and creators, encouraging both over and undereating. On the creators’ side, many feel pressured to remain unhealthy to keep up appearances and appease their fans. They fall into a rabbit hole, consuming more and more food each time until they run the risk of developing severe health issues. A prime example, digital creator Nicholas Perry, better known as Nikocado Avocado, rose to fame for his eating videos. The Youtuber played into his audience’s obsession with overeating and became increasingly unhealthy as he continued to gain weight from his eating habits. However, he finally revealed in September 2024 that his content had been pre-recorded, and he had actually lost 250 pounds over the last two years. Perry claims that his YouTube account served as a “social experiment”, illustrating the internet’s fetishization of unhealthy eating habits. The same commenters applauding his astonishing transformation were those encouraging him to eat more only a few videos prior. As shown by Perry, the trend of overeating for views and reactions causes a dangerous relationship between the creators, viewers, and food.
On the other hand, this trend has a dangerous effect on its viewers’ eating habits. In certain parts of the internet, a portion of the audience uses these videos as a way to restrict their own diets. Commenting on a popular creator’s video, viewers claim they are “watching this video for dinner” rather than eating the food themselves. Especially prevalent in teenage girls, eating disorders can be easily fueled by social media content. Creators like Nikocado Avocado and Jellybean Sweets provide the perfect tool for some users to sustain their unhealthy eating habits, causing some users to encourage each other to watch overeating content as a replacement for eating actual food. While the creators certainly do not intend for this consequence to arise from their content, the toxicity of the internet unfortunately perpetuates unhealthy standards in all directions.
Clearly, the overeating trend on TikTok threatens creators and audiences alike. It demonstrates the power of obsession and fetishization of eating habits and encourages unhealthy habits among all social media users.