A video circulating online in early 2026 allegedly showed a vintage cartoon TV commercial depicting a toothpaste tube character removing its cap from its lower regions and then squirting toothpaste into the mouth of a toothbrush character.

The claim: A video shows an authentic vintage cartoon TV commercial featuring a toothpaste tube character squirting its product into a toothbrush character’s mouth.

In the clip, the toothpaste tube was wearing a man’s style of shirt while the toothbrush had a skirt and long eyelashes.

For example, one YouTube video shared on April 11, 2026, displayed the caption, “1937 toothpaste commercial.” Other posts also mentioned 1936 and, generally, the 1930s.

In the clip, the pair sing, “Brush those teeth. Brush, brush those teeth. Brush, brush, brush!” The toothpaste tube then pushes the toothbrush on its back and shoots toothpaste to fill the toothbrush’s mouth, ending with the toothbrush smiling.

In short, the suggestive video was fake and created with artificial intelligence. The clip lasts eight seconds, which is a common duration for AI-generated videos. Multiple reverse image searches, as well as general queries of Bing and Google, failed to locate any record of the purported TV ad prior to April 2026.

Those searches indicated Instagram user @gloomstomper first posted the AI-generated video on April 6 with the caption, “brush, brush, brush,” receiving millions of views.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by gloomstomper (@gloomstomper)

On May 6, a follower shared an Instagram post featuring the video with a lengthy text caption including overly dramatic wording and multiple paragraphs, indicating AI likely generated the words. The reader asked, “Is this real? I just came across it in a group chat of old ladies who are currently furiously clutching their pearls.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ali Al Raj Hridoy (@itsyouralial)

A reverse image search for frames in the video located many reposts on Facebook , Instagram , Reddit , Threads , TikTok , X  and YouTube .

Common onscreen captions included “Toothpaste commercial from 1936,” “1937 toothpaste commercial” and “You are telling me that this is made for kids.”

One of the Instagram videos found with the reverse image search contained the clue that led to the original post. Under the user’s handle, an April 7 post featured a link for @gloomstomper as the originator of the audio. A search of @gloomstomper’s account then revealed the first post.

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A photo circulated online in early 2026, that claimed to authentically show a blue sunset on Mars.

The earliest version of the image that Snopes could find came from a Facebook page called Echoes of Unbound Curiosity. That page shared the image on Feb. 5, 2026, with the caption:

There have been thousands of generations of humans, and you are alive to witness the first photo of a Sunset on another World.

This is a real photo of the sunset on Mars.

Postings of the image on X, Instagram  and Reddit got thousands of views, though some social media users speculated about the image’s authenticity.

According to Gemini (archived), Google’s generative artificial intelligence model, the Feb. 5 image contained SynthID, a digital watermark that Google adds to content created or generated with its artificial intelligence tools. The image did not appear in a NASA collection of authentic sunrise and sunset photos from Mars or in the agency’s wider image gallery.

A NASA spokesperson called the image a “fan-made” work:

Space enthusiasts and other image processors are often excited about raw imagery downlinked from NASA spacecraft. Sometimes it is used and altered to create fan-made works shared online. This particular product is one of those examples.

As per the above statement, we find the image to be fake.

NASA and the China National Space Administration are the only two space agencies that have landed rovers on the surface of Mars that operated long enough to send back quality images. (The since-disbanded Soviet Union also successfully landed a rover on Mars in 1971 but lost contact with it after 110 seconds.)

The image did not appear among releases by the CNSA from its Zhurong rover.

At the time of this writing, NASA has two rovers on the surface of Mars — Perseverance and Curiosity. Both are looking for signs of life on the Red Planet. The rovers send back images from Mars that NASA publishes on its website.

The fake image may have been inspired by an authentic photo from NASA’s Pathfinder lander taken in 2005. The authentic photo showed the red, rocky surface of Mars and a blueish sun setting on the horizon — the same basic elements that appeared in the fake image.

(NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, accessed via images.nasa.gov)

Sunsets on Mars appear blue because dust in the Martian sky allows blue light to filter through more readily at twilight, according to NASA.

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The archaeological site of Sanxingdui in southwest China’s Sichuan province has yielded remarkable discoveries, including insights recently revealed by Chinese researchers about how the inhabitants forged an axelike tool from a meteorite.

Artefact was made of a particular blend of metal that would have been extremely difficult for the ancient people to create on Earth.

While meteorite artefacts are not entirely unheard of – China boasts 13 known meteorite objects – this discovery underscores that the people of Sanxingdui were part of a distinct regional culture, separate from their contemporaries further north.

“The presence of meteoritic iron at Sanxingdui further highlights the distinctive metallurgical practices in Southwest China, in contrast to contemporaneous practices in the Central Plains,” wrote the authors in a study published in Archaeological Research in Asia.

A preview of the new special exhibition, “Gazing at Sanxingdui: New Archaeological Discoveries in Sichuan,” at the Hong Kong Palace Museum in West Kowloon in September 2023

This axelike tool stands as the oldest meteoritic object discovered in Bronze Age southwest China, “reshaping our understanding of early iron use and cross-regional technologies.” Additionally, it represents the largest meteorite artefact found in China to date.

While researchers did not provide a specific dating for the axe, which was in a particularly fragile condition, the Sanxingdui culture is dated to around 1700–1050 BC.

The tool consists of a unique metal blend – 90 per cent iron and 7.41 per cent nickel – that would have been nearly impossible to replicate, given the limited evidence for such advanced technology during that era in China.

Diverging from other Chinese artefacts, the Sanxingdui tool was not combined with bronze, indicating it was forged directly from the meteorite with minimal alteration.

The high nickel content is a common hallmark of meteorites and has consistently indicated that an ancient object originated from outer space.

Three pieces of meteoric iron artefacts from China, including those from Sanxingdui, have been unearthed

Furthermore, the object exhibited crystalline structures formed by slow cooling over extended periods. Geological processes on Earth occur far too quickly to produce these structures, marking them as a typical feature of celestial bodies.

The unique combination of the metal blend and crystalline structure implies that the Sanxingdui people fashioned the tool from materials they discovered, rather than creating it through standard means.

Discovered in a ritual sacrifice pit, the tool suggests that the community may have recognised the exceptional nature of its materials and regarded it as a highly valuable object.

Moreover, the inherent hardness of iron would have made the axe an effective cutting and carving tool in a culture primarily utilising bronze.

An illustration depicts a green comet with a glowing trail flying through a starry sky, capturing the essence of astronomy and meteor phenomena

The duality of the axe’s spiritual and utilitarian purposes may have coexisted, indicating its significance as a treasured item within the community.

This discovery implies that while Bronze Age cultures were not actively forging other metals, they had the capability to shape objects beyond bronze. It further highlights the remarkable advancement of the Sanxingdui culture for its time.

Meteorite artefacts possess a vibrant historical significance in archaeology, with the most notable example being a dagger gifted to Ancient Egypt’s King Tutankhamen (r. 1336–1327 BC). Archaeologists believe this knife was a gift from King Tut’s grandfather around 1300 BC.

In late 2024, archaeologists unearthed two meteoric objects among numerous gold artefacts in Spain, known as the “Treasure of Villena.”

The discovery of the Sanxingdui meteorite tool came just weeks after archaeologists announced that they believed they had solved the mystery regarding the origin of 3,000-year-old red gemstone beads found in the ancient city.

These beads, identified as carnelian, considered by most as the earliest example of the use of iron, were highly valued in Middle Eastern and Indus Valley cultures. Archaeologists speculate they arrived from the north, suggesting that the Sanxingdui people established trade routes with cultures on the Loess Plateau to the southeast of the Gobi Desert.

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