Kool-Aid Man Challenge

Fence plowing is an internet trend and viral prank whereby people, typically teenagers, will run full-speed into a wood or vinyl fence with the goal of running through or destroying it. It was later rebranded as the Kool-Aid Man Challenge following a resurgence on TikTok.

Background and original trend

External videos
Fence Plowing (Original upload dated June 9, 2006)

The internet trend first began in 2006 when Adam Schleichkorn posted a video to YouTube of him and his cousin running through an intact wooden fence panel. Schleichkorn explained that the fence featured in the video was damaged after a hurricane, and was slated to be torn down anyway. He did not intend to endorse vandalism. Originally titled "Guy Runs Through a Fence", it was changed to simply "Fence Plowing".^[1]

By January of 2007, people had begun copying the video, which eventually led to the arrest of five children in Deer Park, New York for vandalism.^[1] Ten additional instances were investigated by Deer Park police around the same time,^[2] and it became a growing concern for home-owners on Long Island.^[3]

The video had garnered over 70,000 views by February, and Schleichkorn was invited to talk about the fad on Fox News and with Maury Povich.^[4] The video sparked a larger conversation on teen debauchery and the nature of gaining popularity through posting inappropriate videos on public forums.^[5] Schleichkorn himself was a critic of the vandalism, and was outspoken on several more news outlets and talk shows. He later wrote about his experiences for a term paper in gradate school.^[6]

The trend saw middling usage into the 2010s, as reported in areas such as Salt Lake City.^[7]

Resurgence

Fence plowing was repopularized on TikTok in 2021, where it became known as the Kool-Aid Man Challenge.^[8] It was so named after the modus operandi of the Kool-Aid Man, a mascot known for smashing through walls and fences to provide beverages to children.^[9]

The trend saw a resurgence nationwide in the United States, and areas such as Caldwell, Idaho and Omaha, Nebraska reported up to 15 instances each by November. Each case cost homeowners up to a couple thousand dollars in repairs.^[8] In 2023, further damages and arrests were made in Long Island,^[10] St. John, Indiana,^[11] and Raynham, Massachusetts.^[12]

In 2025, fences were damaged in Twin Falls, Idaho^[7] and several more incidents were reported in Calera, Alabama^[13] and New York City as part of the trend.^[14]