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Dutch to selfie-obsessed: You're trampling our tulips

Tulips are reportedly getting crushed in the quest for selfies.

Erin Carson Former Senior Writer
Erin Carson covered internet culture, online dating and the weird ways tech and science are changing your life.
Expertise Erin has been a tech reporter for almost 10 years. Her reporting has taken her from the Johnson Space Center to San Diego Comic-Con's famous Hall H. Credentials
  • She has a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
Erin Carson
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Tulips are getting trampled. 

NurPhoto/Getty

The perfect selfie is coming at a cost for Dutch tulip farmers. 

Selfie takers are causing thousands of euros in damage to tulip farms in the Netherlands, CNN reported last week.  

"Last year I had one field and there were 200 people in the field," a grower named Simon Pennings told CNN, saying people, particularly younger folks, are in the fields all day.

The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions told CNN it thinks Instagram is sparking the trend.

It's become enough of a problem that the Netherlands launched a campaign about it in April. The campaign includes a YouTube video and a website with information on where it's OK to take tulip selfies (hint: don't actually walk into the flower fields unless you're visiting one where that's allowed).

Otherwise, as the video notes, you're literally stomping on Dutch pride.

Originally published April 25.
Update, May 1: Adds information on Dutch tulip campaign.