What Is The ‘Bird Box’ Challenge? Netflix Warns Against The Dangerous Trend
Another day, another weird viral trend — but this time, the trend actually happens to be pretty dangerous. If you’re one of the many people who watched Bird Box on Netflix, you may have some idea what the Bird Box Challenge involves, and you probably know why even Netflix came out and said that people need to stop doing it, already! Watch the video above to learn more about the film and this challenge, and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
The Bird Box Challenge is a trend in which people wearing blindfolds wander around outside for a set period of time, The Verge reported Jan. 3. It’s meant to be inspired by the characters in the Sandra Bullock horror movie that dropped on Netflix worldwide on Dec. 21. But Netflix is totally against this new challenge and went as far as releasing a statement on Twitter denouncing it. “Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE,” the official Netflix Twitter account posted Jan. 2. “We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.” (FYI — Boy and Girl are two important characters from the Netflix film)
For those who don’t know, here’s the gist of the movie according to the official Netflix summary for Bird Box listed on IMDB: “In the wake of an unknown global terror, a mother must find the strength to flee with her children down a treacherous river in search of safety. Due to unseen deadly forces, the perilous journey must be made blindly.” Hear that, people? ”Deadly forces.” “Global terror.” This is not something that people should want to imitate!
But of course, the internet being what it is, the challenge has taken off in a viral way despite the dangers inherent in it. The Verge reported that popular YouTube creators like Morgan Adams did the challenge and helped spur it on, but like any meme, it’s hard to tell how it really started or if there’s an end in sight.
Considering the movie broke Netflix records with 45 million people streaming it in its first week, just how widespread this dangerous new challenge could get is anyone’s guess.
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