Viral Video: Woman Gifts Boyfriend Gutka Bouquet-Internet Shocked, Calls It ‘Cancerous Love’

In a strange public display of love, which made social media very busy, a young lady gave her man a “bouquet” that was completely made of gutka (chewing tobacco pouches) for his birthday. The clip that has gone viral, attracting millions of views and causing a lot of controversies, illustrated the overjoyed boyfriend accepting the strange gift.

The woman, who was smiling at the camera, had done a great job in placing the pouches of different chewing tobacco brands of various colors, so one could say she was replacing flowers with the carcinogenic product. Initially, some spectators thought the act was a mockery but the couple’s real happiness proved it to be alarmingly true. 

The online community’s immediate response was fast and very negative, with thousands of users saying they were shocked and did not believe that a substance which is so harmful and causing oral cancer, besides life-threatening, is being normalized and even celebrated. The video has, unknowingly, sparked a serious debate among the critics about youth addiction and the smoking culture that is so casual in some places of the country.

Normalizing Chewing Tobacco Addiction

The video is a clear and unsettling example of how tobacco chewing addiction is so very much a part of the culture, especially among the youth. The ” gutka bouquet” was not supposed to be a harmless inside joke, but it did unconsciously glorify the habit which is already imbued with heavy problems regarding public health.

India, according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS 2017), is one of the countries with the highest rate of smokeless tobacco consumption. The easy-going attitude towards this problem is one of the reasons for the high rate of oral cancer in the country, which very sadly has a lot of families affected.

The authors of the video executed this act as part of the celebration and subsequently received rejection for it because they were accused of taking the public health issue of oral cancer lightly. The critics proposed that it was a dangerous message being sent through the act of addiction which was presented as a trivial and romantic gesture, thus being used as a medium for trivializing the issue.

Public Health and Viral Content Responsibility

With the help of social media, this incident has definitely become a viral symbol of the struggle against tobacco consumption. Besides the couple’s unique romantic gesture, the content has gained notoriety and become a topic of debate among health professionals who claim that viewing such content by millions of impressionable kids should not be allowed at all as it will be more powerful than the anti-tobacco campaigns.

WHO and government agencies never tire of warning about the health hazards of gutka, considering its deadly mix of tobacco, betel nut, and chemical additives. The internet outcry, which gave rise to the term “love is cancerous,” illustrates a major public concern that the drive for viral fame sometimes comes before the welfare of the whole society and the exercise of common sense.

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