Week 9 (18.05-24.05) Would you appreciate being fooled, offended or scared so that other people can laugh?

Let’s talk about some of the prank videos we can see on websites like Youtube.
A prank video is a video which is a practical joke people make on another person or a group of people. This type of video is very popular and while many of them are really funny, some of them may be harmful in more than one way. Not all practical jokes are dangerous, but in this presentation I will focus on those that in my opinion are.

Some pranks are staged but even if they are someone may want to imitate it and then things may go terribly wrong.
I am also not saying that the videos are not funny, I’m just pointing out the side effects of such jokes.

What harm could come from an innocent practical joke? 
It depends on what kind of joke it is.

1. Scary jokes

Many people find it funny to watch other people run away or scream in terror because of things that aren’t really dangerous. The thing is that the pranked people don’t know that they are being pranked. Fear can block your reasoning and make you miss some details that make it clear that the danger is fake. People can have heart attacks, injure themselves while running or faint or have trauma for the rest of their lives.

Here we can see a very popular video made by a Polish prankster. Looks funny, but I really hope that none of those people had arachnophobia.

In this video people go through something like a horror movie, but in real life. No physical harm is done, but some of them may be afraid to use an elevator for a very long time.

Someone could break a leg while trying to escape this fake gorilla.

2. Practical jokes that trick other people into believing that the victim did something bad

A lot of things may go wrong here. You can damage a relationship between two people very easily.

Here we can see women tricked into thinking that their partners cheated on them in the dressing room. As far as I know, the women were told afterwards that it was just a joke but it doesn’t just void what happened in their heads during those moments when they didn’t know that. From my own experience I can tell you that if someone has been hurt before in a relationship and then someone tricks them into truly believing, even for a brief moment, that their current partner is doing the same thing by presenting some fake evidence, then it can bring some doubts in the future and it’s hard to forget the feeling of being hurt by a loved one.

3. Dangerous things

Some pranks do not directly harm anyone but are just dangerous for the performers or people that may try to imitate them. Just watch the video and think of what may happen if a young person sees a video like this and then tries to impress other kids by doing the same. I know that even crazier things happen in some movies or television shows, but then it’s clearly said there that it’s performed by actors and that people shouldn’t try it at home.