Popular Culture
Whether you call it flip the bottle or stick the landing, this game is sweeping across cultures with its addictive appeal on the participants and the audience. Primarily a test of bottle-landing skills, each participant line up to take turns at throwing the plastic bottle up in the air and watch it land properly or not, depending on the quality of your aim.
If it lands neatly, the successful participant begins to eat the dish beside the landing table until he or she is overthrown by another perfect landing from a co-contestant.
Bottle flipping was a trend became an international trend in the summer of 2016 with numerous videos of people attempting the activity being posted online. With its global popularity, the competition had been frowned upon as constituting a distraction for young people and a public nuisance. Parents and teachers have expressed frustration at the practice, resulting in water bottle flipping being banned at several schools around the world, as well as many people calling for the practice to only be performed in private.
Now it is 2023, and this trend has gained renewed popularity with TikTokers. In Africa, the trend seems to revive the culture of communal eating. However, if only one person is successful at landing the bottle, the picture of a glutton is relieved. The trend only promotes the survival of the fittest.
A certain level of emotional maturity is needed to engage in this game because it hurts deeply when only one person is able to grab the delicious meal on the table. The contest sometimes gets rowdy at the end as participants get angry over not having an opportunity to take a bite of the sumptuous food.
