Blue Waffle

Blue Waffle is term for a fake disease, internet hoax, and shock image that circulated in 2008. Because of this meme, many people believed that "blue waffle" was an actual STD like HIV or gonorrhea (sometimes referred to as "the clap"). Trolls would tell victims to search for an image of a blue waffle on Google's Image Search, only to be surprised by a close-up shot image of a diseased vagina.

Shock sites were made in response to the popularity blue waffle was getting. Most mirrors consisted of just the image with a small description. The original picture originated on Documenting Reality.

The picture shows a yeast infection stained with an antibacterial triarylmethane dye known as crystal violet. In Trenton, New Jersey, a councilwoman named Kathy McBride became a victim to the hoax during a City Council meeting in 2013, when she received a concerned call from a resident asking what Trenton was doing to combat blue waffle disease.

There are many variations of this site, including "Red Pancake" and "Giant Cheese Taco", Red Pancake shows a picture of a diseased anus, possibly infected with anal warts/HPV, and Giant Cheese Taco shows a picture of a diseased ulcerated vagina covered in yellow pus and blood. All of these sites have shut down.

Trivia

 * An episode of the webseries SML made a reference to this shock site in episode 535: Chef Pee Pee Goes to Hollywood.

Links
NOTE : The following websites contain graphic images!
 * bluewaffle.net
 * Mirror: web.archive.org/web/20220430190031/bluewaffle.biz
 * Shockchan version: web.archive.org/web/20220120142015/shockchan.com/blue-waffle/
 * goatse.me/bluewaffle
 * archive.ph/rntaw
 * Red Pancake: archive.fo/sQMu2
 * Giant Cheese Taco: archive.ph/yS2uY