Food Is Meant For Eating, NOT Using As Bookmarks!

A plain sheet of paper may not be much to the average Joe/Jane, but it could mean the world to an enthused booklover who desperately needs something to mark their place in a really good book.

Ashley Holady –
Book Culture Bookish Memes Horror
Chex mix in book for meme challenge

If you’ve been casually browsing through Twitter, you may have come across tweets from well-known food brands that took part in a “don’t have a bookmark” challenge and in the process have attempted to make running books by filling them up with their trademark food and drinks funny. And if you’re a lover of books, you know just from reading that description, that sounds wrong. As in horrifically wrong.

 

 

It all started on Monday when Chex Mix was the first to commit this horrific act. I’ll let the first tweet of this “challenge” speak for itself.

 

 

Of course, the backlash from this was tremendous, not just from avid readers/book-hoarders, but also from local libraries and bookstores.

 

 

It’s just that simple and harmless to our precious pals’ pages! Unfortunately, this unnecessary mangling act doesn’t stop here and only gets worse from brand to brand…

 

 

Are you sure about that? 

 

 

And even publishing houses such as Random House responded vehemently to this…

 

 

I couldn’t agree more!

But this is not the last we see our friends forced to take a bath by a branded drink, just maybe not with cookies on the side to dunk in…

 

 

It was bad enough to have crumbs from trail mix or Oreos in the binding or have the pages be doused by a white liquid, but when a colored liquid is splattered onto the pages, this is where the challenge has gone way too far. Good luck turning the moist, rosy red pages after they dry from all that energy drink.

Also, check out this response from the Vitamin Water brand to a negative tweet.

 

 

Really, like that makes any difference! If this were an animal instead of a book, it doesn’t matter if it’s your pet or not, it’s still abuse.

 

 

Now, here’s an alternative method, proposed by Parliament House, to use on your books…

 

 

I would say you are: it doesn’t ruin the pages, convinces your enemies to not mess with you, and keeps potential book thieves and invaders out!

Though we can’t say the same for food brands that still haven’t gotten the picture…

 

 

Wait for it…

 

 

You’re sticking together the pages! Don’t you know that they’re only going to rip once they’re turned?!

(Sigh)

…and the madness continues: from tweets of pure torture with Gushers to fairly ridiculous tweets with chicken wings…

 

 

Oh, those greasy skin flakes and meat juices…

You all do realize that there are much better ways—dryer ways—to bookmark your place?

 

 

The more ways to remind people to go to the library more often, the better! And when you get a new set of books (plural) from the bookstore…

 

 

I mean, that’s what I do when I want to start reading and don’t have a bookmark on my person!

Or if you’re at home with a pet nearby…

 

https://twitter.com/lauraeweymouth/status/1171926192863272961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1171926192863272961&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Ffood-brand-mangle-books-meme-backlash_n_5d7c3e06e4b077dcbd5e8886

 

As long as your furry friend doesn’t move, then Fred has my vote!

(Also, what are the odds that this dog happens to be a Border Collie when I actually have a pet collie myself?!)

I’m just saying that there are so many better ways to mark your pages. If you care to take a gander at the informative meme below…

 

Paper, receipt, and lanyard used as bookmarks in books

Image via BookStar

 

This might make sense in theory, at least to the average bookworm, but yes, there is a way to get that wrong: while this quality bookmark meme mainly applies to paper-like items (e.g., a receipt, a lanyard, etc.), and maybe to some other dry things, it can never apply when it comes to food and drink because those are meant specifically for eating and drinking. And that is why you were always told to not read and eat/drink at the same time, children!

(Or even if you do, always do so in trying not to get anything on the pages, because if you were anything like me back in middle school and preferred to eat your lunch in one hand while being entertained by a good book in the other hand, you can become skilled in the art of eating and reading.)

However, even if you separate your edibles from your readables, always remember…

 

Meme of book with bookmark vs. book with folded page

Image via MEME

 

Of course, those kinds of “monsters” (dog-earing books has been dated back centuries, so it’s nothing new) are nothing compared to the ones committing these violent acts towards book-kind. Now, that’s monstrous.

When in doubt, just use plain paper, like this generous person had the idea of posting up for their fellow needers of paper to take from and use…

 

Meme of a blank sheet of paper with free-hanging strips at the bottom

Image via MEME

 

It’s free and it’s safe! A plain sheet of paper may not be much to the average Joe/Jane, but it could mean the world to an enthused booklover who desperately needs something to mark their place in a really good book. You never know when you might need it.

To close out this article (and hopefully this new book-defacing trend once and for all), here is the final say from Strand Books…

 

 

 

 

Featured Image via Flipboard