A short video on Facebook (FB) is misleading netizens, claiming that certain “fake cabbages” are being sold in the country. The clip was taken from an old video showing several wax displays in Japan and were not being marketed as food.
The FB reel was published by a netizen last May 24, and continued to circulate this week. Paired with several hashtags meant to boost engagement, it bore the misleading caption: “Fake na repolyo. Tigilan niyo na to pls (Fake cabbage. Stop this please).”
With a superimposed text on the video pleading with sellers to stop peddling these so-called synthetic vegetables, the video narrator warned netizens to be “careful with what we buy.”
This is misleading. While the actual video indeed shows a fake cabbage, it is not being marketed as food and is not meant for consumption.
In February 2014, YouTube channel macdeetube uploaded the original video featuring an artist creating “ultra-realistic” food samples of various meats and vegetables for restaurants in the Gifu Prefecture of Japan.
Other fact-checking organizations have debunked similar claims, clarifying that these food samples – known in Japan as “shokuhin samples” – are made by food craftsmen to make plastic representations of the menu in restaurants.
Several netizens criticized the publisher of the misleading reel in the comments section, saying they are sharing content just for the engagement without doing proper research.
The reel published by the FB netizen has garnered over 15,500 reactions, 2,100 comments, 13,000 shares and two million views.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)