Why People Are So Upset With This Viral Bean Stunt

With constant stories of the restaurant industry struggling through the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, people might want some lighter news. However, when Reuters uploaded a video to Twitter featuring stuntman and film director Hunter Ray Barker sitting in a pool of bean dip, commenters ranged from unimpressed to disparaging.

In their article accompanying the clip, Reuters covered how Barker had sat in a pool filled with bean dip for 24 hours to attract attention and visitors to his favorite Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, Los Toros. Los Toros, like the rest of the industry, has suffered in the past year and decided to allow Barker to help as he saw fit, albeit with stunned reservations. "We have a golden opportunity to grab the bull by the horns and support local businesses in a big explosive way and so why not?" Barker said of his stunt.

Apparently, the biggest question people had was what Barker would do in bathroom emergencies. According to Reuters, his system, with which he seems a bit too laissez-faire, was as follows: "I do have a funnel that's connected to me right now so any time I do have to go No. 1, that is connected to a bag that's attached to my body. For No. 2, that is a different story. We will just have to wait and see."

In Patch's post bean dip write-up, Barker declared that he had a lovely time, still loved bean dip, and will now use his marketing agency, Bullfrog Creative Agency, to arrange similar stunts with other restaurants. 

Responses to Barker's stunt included a few stoked affirmations, queries about what sitting in dip has to do with keeping a restaurant open, and, most pointedly, comments about the waste of beans.

"How many people would his pool have fed?" one Twitter user asked. Though, for the sake of balance, another countered the argument that the beans have been wasted: "If 40 [percent] of our food is thrown out and never eaten, then he's making those beans more useful than 40 [percent] of our food," (via Twitter).

The 40 percent mentioned is part of the estimated amount of food supply the United States wastes per year, according to RTS. Most of the reasons for the food waste that are typically given include imperfect-looking foodstuffs, perceived expiration, and shoppers buying more food than they will feasibly eat, leading to the food rotting.

However, as HuffPost wrote back in 2012, enough food is already produced to adequately feed 10 billion people, but, of course, hunger runs rampant. The reason why food waste persists while others experience food insecurity is due to poverty and inequality, according to HuffPost. That cannot be blamed on sitting in a pool of bean dip, no matter how many charities it could fuel.