Spa Water Controversy

Submission 4,934

Part of a series on TikTok. [View Related Entries]

Overview

The Spa Water Controversy refers to a series of videos and posts accusing TikToker Gracie Norton, @gracie_norton, of culturally appropriating the Latino drink agua fresca, often made by mixing water, fruits and sugar, by calling it "spa water" in a viral video instructing viewers on how to make it, ignoring the drink's roots and "acting like she invented it" in some viewers' opinions. Norton posted her video in June 2022 and became the subject of criticism in July, resulting in her deleting the video.

Background

Agua fresca, or aguas frescas, is a drink popular in Central America and Mexico often made by mixing fruits, water and sugar.^[1] It can also be made with grains, vegetables and seeds (example shown below).

On June 24th, 2022, TikToker @gracie_norton posted a video where she stirs a jar of what she calls "spa water." In the video, she boasts about spa water for its anti-inflammatory effects, the antioxidants in it and says it helps with her digestion. She then explains how to make spa water. However, the video has since been deleted.

Developments

In July 2022, TikTokers began duetting and responding to the video, accusing Norton of cultural appropriation and "gentrifying" agua fresca by advertising it as spa water. For example, on July 20th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @strawberrryc0ugh posted a video where she shows embarrassment over the video, gaining over 1.2 million views in six days (shown below, left). On July 22nd, Twitter^[3] user @catrussy posted, "white girls are making aguas frescas on tik tok and they're calling it 'spa water' jesus send the flood please," gaining over 107,000 likes in four days. On July 23rd, TikToker^[4] @nathalyyenriquez posted a video parodying cultural appropriators and Norton referencing the spa water video, gaining over 800,000 views in three days (shown below, right).

On an unknown date, @gracie_norton then deleted the spa water video.

The controversy was reported on by numerous media outlets, including The U.S. Sun^[5] on July 23rd. On July 25th, the Mexican-run website remezcla.com^[6] published an article accusing TikTokers of culturally appropriating the Latino community's food. On the same day, TikToker^[7] @erikangel_ posted a skit about spa water, gaining over 2.3 million views in a day (shown below).

Gracie Norton's Apology

Norton posted an apology for the video in a text post on an unknown date to an unknown platform around the time she deleted the video. The apology has been reposted a number of times to TikTok since late July 2022 (shown below).