“It’s Coke, Not Action Bitters!” — Woman Defends Viral Video of Her Giving ‘Alcohol’ to Her Baby Amid Backlash

A viral video has ignited outrage and concern across social media platforms after a young Nigerian mother was seen pouring a dark liquid from a bottle of “Action Bitters” into a baby’s feeding bottle and then giving it to the child. In the short clip, the woman appeared to do this with ease and no hesitation, as someone off-camera laughed while recording. Viewers quickly assumed that she was giving her baby alcohol to help the child sleep, leading to a firestorm of criticism, condemnation, and calls for her arrest. However, the woman has now responded to the backlash with a shocking twist: “That thing is Coke, not Action Bitters,” she said.

The explanation, rather than quelling the outrage, has sparked a fresh wave of online debates about parenting, child safety, internet clout-chasing, and the dangerous normalization of shocking behavior for social media attention. In her response video, the woman defended her actions by holding up the same Action Bitters bottle she used in the viral clip and proceeded to demonstrate that it was filled with Coca-Cola, not alcohol. “I used the bottle to prank them,” she claimed, insisting that she would never feed her child any form of alcohol.

Her defense, however, has done little to cool the flames of controversy. Many Nigerians remain skeptical, questioning why any responsible parent would repurpose an alcohol bottle for a baby’s drink, especially knowing the message it could send or the danger it could cause if others imitate the behavior. Others are asking why she chose to record and share such a sensitive moment in the first place if not for attention or “engagement farming,” a growing concern in Nigeria’s digital culture where shocking content is used to gain likes, follows, and notoriety.

“You poured Coke inside an Action Bitters bottle and gave it to your baby? Why? To prove what?” one X (formerly Twitter) user asked. “Even if it’s Coke, why use a bitters bottle? Why film it and laugh?” another chimed in. A more furious commenter wrote, “Whether it’s Coke, Fanta, or holy water, the fact remains you used a bottle that says ‘alcohol’ to feed a baby and you think it’s funny? You should be arrested.”

In her continued defense, the woman said the whole situation was a misunderstanding and blamed social media users for always being too quick to judge without knowing the full story. “Una go just see video, una go begin insult person. You no even ask whether na joke. Una dey craze,” she ranted in a follow-up post. She also claimed that the baby was perfectly healthy and not harmed in any way, further calling the entire outrage “drama” by people who “have nothing to do with their lives.”

But many Nigerians are not having it. Human rights activists and child advocacy organizations have weighed in, warning against what they described as “reckless behavior that could endanger children’s lives.” A spokesperson for a prominent Lagos-based child protection NGO said, “Even if her claim is true — that it was Coke — this still raises serious questions about parenting judgment, awareness of child safety, and the influence of social media on common sense. We are seeing more and more of these dangerous trends where people try to go viral by doing or pretending to do the unthinkable, and it has to stop.”

Some have called on the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Ministry of Women Affairs to investigate the incident to determine if the child is at risk or if any laws have been broken. “If this child is in danger, we cannot wait for something worse to happen before taking action. A simple ‘it was Coke’ cannot be the end of this discussion,” one lawyer wrote on Facebook.

Still, a few voices have risen in the woman’s defense. Some argue that people are overreacting and that if the bottle truly contained Coca-Cola, then there was no real harm done. Others believe the criticism is a form of online bullying, saying the mother should be corrected, not crucified. “Let’s teach, not destroy,” one Instagram user wrote. “She might have made a mistake, or she thought it was a harmless joke. Either way, canceling her won’t help the baby.”

But the larger issue remains unresolved: the growing trend of parents involving their children in controversial content for clout. From mothers slapping toddlers in TikTok “pranks” to videos of children smoking or being given unusual foods, there seems to be an increasing disregard for boundaries and the psychological or physical safety of minors, all in pursuit of online fame. Experts have warned that such exposure not only affects the child’s well-being but may also lead to lasting trauma or legal consequences for the parents involved.

Social media platforms have also been criticized for not doing enough to curb this trend. While many videos like this go viral within hours, they often remain online for days before any moderation action is taken. Critics argue that platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram must do more to protect children and enforce community guidelines that prohibit harmful or misleading content involving minors.

As for the woman at the center of this latest viral storm, it remains to be seen whether the authorities will step in or whether the internet will eventually move on to the next shocker. What’s clear, however, is that society is growing increasingly intolerant of any act — real or staged — that puts a child at risk, even remotely. The boundaries between “content” and “crime” are becoming more sharply drawn, and parenting in the social media age is under more scrutiny than ever before.

Whether it was Coke or Action Bitters, one truth stands unshaken: a child’s safety should never be a prop in anyone’s quest for likes.