Fake News: How to Create a Hybrid Kiwi-Banana Fruit
On March 13th, 2016, a Facebook post featuring a video tutorial on growing a hybrid kiwi-banana fruit went viral, with over 500,000 shares within the first few days. The video showed a man cutting a banana in half, revealing a kiwi inside the peel, and providing instructions on how to grow the fruit. However, the truth is that kiwis and bananas are not from the same species, and it’s impossible to create a hybrid fruit from them. This revelation exposes the video as a hoax, despite its initial popularity and the hopes of viewers to cultivate their own “baniwi” fruit.
After conducting a Google search using the term “Banana-Kiwi Hybrid Fruit,” multiple results were found. One of the websites, Snopes, fact-checked a video posted by a Facebook page called Foods Around, which showed how to create a banana-kiwi hybrid fruit. Snopes concluded that the video was false. Other websites, including Fresh Plaza, also covered the viral video, crediting the original YouTube channel Kin Community and the video’s upload date of April 1, 2014. Fresh Plaza corroborated Snopes’ findings and reported that the video was a hoax.
The video displays a man cutting off a portion of a banana and a kiwi, placing them together with the open cuts touching, and planting them in a pot. The video then shows the process of the supposed growth of this new fruit, with stems growing out of the pot. The growth eventually transforms into what appears to be a banana with stems growing from the top. The man takes the fruit out of the pot and cuts a slice, revealing the final product.
To disprove a claim, one should find the original source of the claim. For the claim of the hybrid fruit, Robert Mahar himself provided the confirmation that it was a hoax. On his website, he published “The “Baniwi” Goes Viral” on April 28, 2016, stating that growing a kiwi-banana hybrid was not possible, despite certain legitimate plant propagation techniques. Mahar cited Snopes for debunking the hybrid as fake and acknowledged National Geographic for setting the record straight with their article, which was posted on April Fool’s Day. Mahar also mentioned the Foods Around Facebook page, which received 75.5 million views. He confirmed that his DIY video tutorials, excluding the hoax, were 100% sincere and doable. Mahar concluded by thanking everyone for sharing in the fun.
National Geographic highlighted that grafting cannot create a baniwi, as explained by Robert in his admission on his website. However, as Becker notes, the viral spread of Robert’s video serves as a reminder of how information can quickly spread, whether true or not. In times of crisis, access to accurate information becomes essential, and while many sources may offer critical information, they may also contain inaccuracies or deliberate falsehoods. To uncover the truth, it is essential to trace back to the original source and conduct further research to verify the authenticity of the information.
Although social media has brought numerous benefits, such as enabling people to stay connected with their loved ones and share their opinions, it has also become a breeding ground for fake news and rumors. People tend to accept the articles that appear on their news feeds without questioning their authenticity. Fact-checking articles is an easy task, but many users tend to share them based solely on their headlines, without even bothering to read the full content.
Work Cited:
Becker, Rachel A. “Why This April Fools’ Kiwi Hybrid Is Bananas.” Culture, National Geographic, 10 Feb. 2021, www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/april-fools-kiwi-banana-hybrid-video.
Evon, Dan. “FACT CHECK: How to Create a Hybrid Kiwi-Banana Fruit.” Snopes.com, 14 Aug. 2018, www.snopes.com/fact-check/banana-kiwi-hoax-video/.
Mahar, Robert. “Banana Kiwi Fruit | Kin Community.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 Apr. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rn08tINChA&feature=youtube.
“Banana-Kiwi Hybrid Hoax.” FreshPlaza, 21 Mar. 2016, www.freshplaza.com/article/1865/Banana-kiwi-hybrid-hoax/.