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- A new TikTok trend called "beaning" is racking up millions of views.
- The videos show people pouring cans of beans onto doorsteps and running away.
- Police in England issued a warning against selling large quantities of beans to young people.
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A viral TikTok trend for pouring tinned beans on people's doorsteps has led a British police force to issue a warning to shopkeepers to beware of young people purchasing large amounts of beans, according to the local news outlet Manchester Evening News.
The trend, which creators have unofficially dubbed "beaning," is marked on the video-sharing platform with hashtags like #beanbandits, #getbeaned, and #beanattack. Across all the various hashtags, the trend has amassed millions of views and hundreds of thousands of likes.
It dates back to at least April, when a TikTok account called The Bean Bandits posted a video that showed people pouring multiple tins of Goya beans on a doorstep. In on-screen text, the account wrote, "We beaned someones [sic] front door."
The last frame of the clip showed a doorstep and doormat that was covered in an avalanche of red, yellow, and orange beans, with what looked like potato-sized brown beans stacked on top. The TikTok, which used YoSmooky and Chino_G's bean-themed rap song "Beans" as its audio, has garnered over 200,000 likes and has been viewed over a million times.
The trend appears to have accelerated recently, following The Bean Bandits' second beaning TikTok, which they shared on August 31.
The clip showed an array of opened bean cans which were emptied onto a doorstep in the dark. The video, which used another bean-themed song - Mario Judah's squeak-voiced "Bean & Lean" - has garnered almost 200,000 likes and over 1.3 million views.
The Bean Bandits did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Other creators on TikTok appear to have started beaning in September, including the account @bubblebeanbandits, which posted a video on Wednesday that has already been viewed over 10,000 times. The 10-second clip showed two people pouring beans and Coca-Cola on a doorstep and then sprinting away from the scene.
The clip's caption says that TikTok previously removed the video from the platform. TikTok did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The Manchester Evening News reports that Michelle Owens, a community support officer with the West Yorkshire Police, made a statement about the rise of "beaning," urging shopkeepers to "be aware of youths buying large quantities of cans of beans," and saying "if you have children living at home, please be mindful if you see them removing cans of beans from the family home."
Neither Owens nor the West Yorkshire Police responded to Insider's request for comment.
In mid-August, the police force for the English county Surrey wrote a statement on its Facebook page saying there were reports of people pouring beans on doorsteps and cars overnight in the town of Wonersh. The post attached two images, one showing four empty Heinz bean cans strewn on the ground and another of a car covered in beans.
It is unclear whether the incident was attached to the beaning trend or an unrelated event. The Surrey Police did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
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