Art News

Netflix has to issue warning as people take on ‘Bird Box’ challenge

Bird Box. Courtesy Netflix
Christmas horror
release Bird
Box 
has had mixed reviews from critics, but it appears to
have been a smash hit: Netflix lifted the usually tightly sealed lid on its
viewership numbers in a recent tweet that disclosed 45 million subscriber
accounts had watched the thriller during its first seven days on the
service.

One consequence of this popularity is that it now has
its own challenge, and it’s something that’s just as silly as the cinnamon
challenge (which peaked in popularity in 2014, before people realised that
trying to eat a teaspoon of cinnamon can cause irritation, or even lead to a
lung infection).

The Bird
Box 
challenge has people blindfolding themselves and then
navigating the big bad world: some of them are less worrying, showing people
moving around their living rooms, with only soft furnishings as a threat; while
others show folk pulling beanies over their heads while driving (hopefully in a
trick of editing, but still warranting concern consdering people might try and
imitate them).

A trader wears a necktie as a blindfold for a photo referencing the newly released Netflix Inc. movie
This is probably safe, unless he’s trading in
millions: a trader wears a necktie as a blindfold for a photo referencing the
newly released Bird Box on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on
Monday, December 31.

Many people who take on the challenge try and achieve
things the characters in the film pulled off while blindfolded, and anyone who
has seen Bird
Box 
knows that this, combined with the one-upmanship that
is a key element of these challenges, is a recipe for disaster.

This 24 hour Bird Box challenge has had two million
views on YouTube:

The challenge has prompted Netflix to tweet a
warning:

But it has perhaps already reached its peak, and will
die out soon, considering it’s already hit mainstream morning TV:

And here, one Twitter user reminds us that Johnny
Knoxville of Jackass fame has been
Bird-Box-challenging since way back in 2006:

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