What is beaning? The viral TikTok trend explained

17 September 2021, 11:35

Lizzo transforms while doing the 'Pull Yourself Together' TikTok trend

By Jazmin Duribe

Has your house recently been "beaned"? Here's what the TikTok trend actually means.

Lock up your children, windows and canned goods because the beaning trend is currently trending on TikTok.

Teens on TikTok are always pulling pranks. Recently, we've seen the Devious Lick trend explode on the platform which involves stealing something random from school. The trend has become so widespread that one school was forced to threaten its students with police action if they participate.

Now it's all about the latest prank, beaning. But what is beaning and what does it involve? Here's what we know.

What is beaning on TikTok?

Beaning is basically like egging, which is a popular prank usually pulled around Halloween that involves throwing raw eggs at someone's property. Similarly, beaning involves getting a can of baked beans and throwing its content at people's houses or smearing it across their doorsteps.

It's not known who started the beaning trend but it's thought to have began in the UK, considering that baked beans are a British delicacy. It doesn't mean teens across the world aren't taking part, though. In places where teens do not have access to baked beans they're using other varieties of bean, like kidney, chickpeas or pinto beans. Some are getting even more creative with their canned goods and using tins of chopped tomatoes.

People that are throwing the beans are calling themselves "Bean Bandits" and the Bean Bandits hashtag currently has almost 2 million views on TikTok. There's also a dedicated Bean Bandits TikTok account.

Now that the trend has spread across the UK, West Yorkshire Police has urged shops to stop selling beans to young people. "It has come to the attention of the police that a new trend has started by groups of youths called 'beaning'. This involves youths throwing the contents of a can of beans over properties, very similar to the trend of throwing eggs at properties," Morley PCSO Michelle Owens said in a statement to Yorkshire Post.

"If you work in a shop, please can you be aware of youths buying large quantities of cans of beans, if you have children living at home, please be mindful if you see them removing cans of beans from the family home."