Netflix: ‘Please do not hurt yourselves with this Bird Box challenge’

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I saw this story over at E! Online, where they titled it “Netflix Warns People Not to Do the Bird Box Challenge.” Netflix’s twitter account didn’t do that though! They just told people not to hurt themselves with it, which as E! points out, is not the same as including a “do not try this at home” message. Netflix knows what they’re doing, they know they benefit from the memes. Apparently people are putting on blindfolds to see if they can navigate without sight, like Malorie and the other survivors had to in order to avoid the monsters which convince sane people to kill themselves. People are putting blindfolds on their kids, too, who are predictably running into sh-t. Bird Box was an interesting concept but it wasn’t compelling enough to make me do something this stupid and pointless. (When I’m in crowds I do sometimes imagine fighting my way out a la Walking Dead but that’s different and just an idea!)

This is the only terrible Twitter post I’ve seen of people doing this stunt. This poor baby.

Most of the other memes and photos I saw were just people pretending they were on Bird Box with blindfolds, and not actually doing it though. TooFab has two YouTube videos of people who claimed they did it for a while though. These two women went 24 hours with blindfolds on. I only fast forwarded through it, but their sighted friend drove them around of course and helped them. They generally looked like idiots but they’re getting views. Another family let their two kids ride a little seated motorized bike around the house blindfolded. They just ran into sh-t of course. So I guess it’s a thing.

Here’s Netflix’s message

They know what they’re doing. They could have worded this “Please do not hurt yourselves BY doing this Bird Box challenge,” but they’re not telling people not to do it. The worded it ambiguously enough that it’s possible to interpret it as just saying “be careful!” This is a huge company with an entire social media team. Surely more than one person read this. Then again, we’ve heard how sh-tty the work environment is there.

As a rule I think these “challenges” are hyped by the media, that less people do them initially than reported, and that reporting them makes them more popular. *raises hand*

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16 Responses to “Netflix: ‘Please do not hurt yourselves with this Bird Box challenge’”

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  1. Loopy says:

    I am confused by this message,is that the official account why are is it saying ‘I can’t believe I have to say this…’ instead of we as a corporate account and who is Boy and Girl,admittedly I have not seen it yet.

    • Kitty says:

      sandras character doesn’t give the kids names, hence Boy and Girl. I haven’t seen the movie but I read the novel. It was pretty good

  2. jwoolman says:

    Well, we survived pin the tail on the donkey and swinging at piñatas blindfolded in my extreme youth.

    • Bettyrose says:

      LOL @ extreme youth. I’m picturing a badass biker kid swinging away at that pinata. But I get your point. Kids go thru plenty of adult supervised tests of their abilities to overcome weird obstacles. But who’s supervising the dumbass adults here?

  3. Notanotherpostcard says:

    I don’t get it. If people want to put on blindfolds and walk around let them, it is a free country.

    Government and big corporations, Get Off My Lawn!!!

  4. YesImHere says:

    I saw the movie. It’s unique and different and beautifully shot, but it just fell flat for me. I wasn’t very impressed and despite knowing that I was supposed to feel something, I actually didn’t feel much. The ending was saccharine, though I appreciate the plot twist involving the blind community. The only truly heart-wrenching scene was when that certain guest (I’m trying to be deliberately vague) wasn’t who he claimed to be, and the ensuing chaos around that. Really heart-breaking. The rest of the movie was … meh. Regarding this meme game ….the character in the movie practiced it for YEARS.

    • Notanotherpostcard says:

      Yesi, the book was much better. No trite ending.

    • Bettyrose says:

      Soo I guess we’re straight up spoiling here? If so, I’ll add that I spent most of the movie wondering if the cities weren’t still functioning with blind people at the helm. (And as blindness is a spectrum, at what degree was one completely immune to the effect?)

      • BabyJane says:

        I would imagine complete blindness was the only failsafe- remember BD Wong and his thermal image cameras? Wah wah…

    • Veronica S. says:

      I thought the performances carried it well enough, though it’s hardly perfect. (Pacing is a major issue – it can’t decide whether to be horror/thriller or character study.) Sandra Bullock is just very good at what she does, and she was aided along by a cast that turned in equally strong acting. IMO, it’s a hard book to translate to film because of how cerebral some of the content is, but they did a comparably good job in light of films like “The Happening” and “World War Z” that didn’t quite make the mark.

  5. sommolierlady says:

    That poor baby. Jesus, that dad is a moron.

    • Imeanreally says:

      Let’s hope someone recognizes this idiot and notifies Child Protective Services before it’s too late.

      • Veronica S. says:

        There’s no reason why CYS would get involved in a mistake like that. There’s no malice intended, and the kid is by no means seriously harmed. But the person filming should give him a whack for being dumb about it.

    • AmberMarie3386 says:

      Right? Can someone get this video to CPS? I feel so bad for this baby!

  6. IMUCU says:

    LOL @ Celebitchy: I occassionally have the fighting-through-a-crowd-Walking-Dead-style thought too 😉!

  7. Madpoe says:

    Heeeyyy! And I thought I was the only that imagine myself in crowds fighting my way out like I’m in The Walking Dead! 🙂 I really wanted to like this movie, but Sandra’s character felt tooooo cold to me.