BANGKOK — Red, orange, purple, yellow – who’s the best of all? A deep seated color-coded division is stirring a heated debate on Thai internet on Wednesday.
But this time, the colors polarizing Thailand have nothing to do with politics, but everything to do with a popular jelly cup brand called Pipo.
With all the rage and passion of a duck-vs.-wabbit debate, Thai netizens users are arguing which flavor of Pipo is the yummiest. The purple faction seems to be winning – #SavePurplePipo is the top-trending hashtag as of publication time, with over 100,000 tweets and counting.
“Stand up, all you who eat purple pipo! Stand up! We are all one. Our voices mean something! Don’t let anyone bully our nong purple!” tweeted @Rubyraquellex.
It all began yesterday when @Seemee55555 sent out a tweet, which would later be remembered by historians as the first shot that sparked an extinction of millions of work minutes lost.
“I was coming to buy a smoothie when the person in front of me took five minutes to choose Pipos for their smoothie. They took all the good colors and left me with three purple ones. Dammit, who can I call?”
มาสั่งน้ำปั่น เส็ด อีคนข้างหน้ายืนเลือกปีโป้ห้านาที เส็ด มันเอาสีดีๆไปหมดเหลือสีม่วงให้กุ3อัน ส้นตีน โกดใครได้บ้างเนี่ย
— ซีมี (@seeme55555) January 14, 2020
She later doubled down on her passionate hatred of purple Pipo: “Seriously? Who even eats purple Pipo?”
That incendiary remark has been retweeted more than 7,000 times, while armies of purple lovers and haters rode into battle under banners of their favorite Pipo colors. The Twitter-wide conflict quickly sent #SavePurplePipo to the number one top trending hashtag as of Wednesday.
Fighting soon escalated beyond the pro- and anti-purple divide. Some said they can tolerate every color except orange. Others resurrected the longtime complaint of the difficulty involved in peeling back the plastic wrapper of a Pipo.
The war also brought forth the darkest natures of man. Someone said they buy entire bags only to eat the white, lychee-flavored ones – and another made a shocking confession that they had always thought the different colors were all the same flavor. Seriously, seek help.
In an attempt to defuse the escalating tension, user @Imsu1212 proposed a pan-Pipo olive branch by suggesting that any flavor was good – as long as it was put in the freezer.
“But I hate how after it’s frozen, it’s so hard to open. When the wrapper comes off only around the ring, I think to myself, what karma have I committed?”
ที่สุดของการกินปีโป้แล้วจ้ะ แช่ฟรีซ❄️
แล้วเหลียดที่แช่เย็นแกะยากกว่าปกติไปอีก อีดึงแล้วออกมาเส้นรอบวงอ่ะ กูทำกรรมอะไรมา
#saveปีโป้ม่วง pic.twitter.com/rrcPl690Aq— IMSU (@IMSU1212) January 15, 2020
Not wanting the battles, manpower, and time sacrificed to be for naught, @Nini2AN took the opportunity to demand the return of the fabled yellow pineapple-flavored Pipo.
“It was the yummiest, and even rarer than the purple one. It was replaced by lychee. My childhood trauma,” @Nini2AN wrote.
ทานโทษนะคะ #saveปีโป้ม่วง ขอยาดเกาะ #ทวงคืนปีโป้เหลือง รสสับปะรด อร่อยสุดๆ สมัยก่อนมีน้อยกว่าสีม่วงอีก จนเอาลิ้นจี่มาแทน หายไปเลย ความเจ็บปวดในวัยเด็ก pic.twitter.com/gTIXC1BkW4
— 짤랑이 💫 (@nini2AN) January 15, 2020
Horrified by the sight of her countrymen felling each other, @Nerdyome pondered the meaninglessness of it all: “I spent 15 minutes through #SavePurplePipo to find out that my nation has been fighting over the fav colour of jelly. Not to mention it was started simply by a post about milkshake,” she wrote in English.
I spent 15 minutes through #saveปีโป้ม่วง to find out that my nation has been fighting over the fav colour of jelly. Not to mention it was started simply by a post about milkshake. pic.twitter.com/fUzXyZ7WU1
— Hope is a dangerous thing (@nerdyOme) January 15, 2020
“This is a country that can always fight about food,” wrote @Iipplovebb_25.
Even the culprit responsible for the latest Twitter war expressed shock at the consequences of her off-hand remark.
“I was just kidding!! You guys are all so serious…I Was just ordering a smoothie and got mad because all the other pipo colors were gone!” @Seemee55555 wrote.
เรื่องนี้สอนให้รู้ว่าอะไร อย่ามีปัญหากับคนในทวิตเจอร์หรอ คือ กู-แค่-ล้อ-เล่น!!
พวกมึงจริงจังกันทำไมเนี่ย
ถ้าผู้ประกอบการมาเห็น #saveปีโป้ม่วง นะคะ คือหนูแค่ไปซื้อปีโป้ปั่นแล้วคนข้างหน้ามันเลือกสีอื่นไปหมดอ่ะค่ะ หนูเลยโมโหนิดหน่อย ;-; pic.twitter.com/p6Mh60lFUr— ซีมี (@seeme55555) January 15, 2020
Pipo is a jelly cup snack produced by Thai snack and confectionery company Eurofood, founded in 1984.
Their items, such as Pipo, Euro custard cake, Ellse layer cakes, and Peking wafer biscuits, are all cheap snacks found nearly in every grocery store around Thailand – sugar-laden nostalgias that defined the childhood of many Thais who grew up in the 90s.
Pipo have been adapted for use in other desserts, such as Yakult smoothies, jelly tarts, and so on.