As we saw in Generation Like, the rise of social media since the mid-200o’s has given both brands and people alike the opportunity to showcase themselves online to garner “likes,” “subscribers,” or “followers.”
The documentary also had a brief segment on Youtubers and how they use their viewership to their own advantage as long as they parter with brands to advertise their products.
However, there has been some controversy in the Youtube world. One Youtuber named Sam Pepper is known for pulling ridiculous pranks and stunts in front of the camera to capture peoples attention and get lots of views. One of his pranks received a lot of attention– just not in a positive way. It’s called “Killing Best Friend Prank” and I’ll embed it below.
Apparently Sam Pepper had teamed up with Sam (another famous internet personality) and agreed to trick his best friend Colby, into thinking he got shot. In the video you can see Sam Pepper kidnapping both of them and shooting Sam right in front of Colby.
People have criticized this video because of the raw emotion it showed, as well as its immorality. To see all the controversy, you have to do is read the comments and look at the number of dislikes the video received.
It seems as though people will do anything to get likes nowadays. What do you think of this video? Do you think Sam Pepper has gone too far? Is his behavior less immoral because all three people know each other (as opposed to pulling this prank on a stranger)?
I actually found this video really hard to watch. I can definitely appreciate a good, funny prank, but this was such a serious and potentially dangerous scheme that it was painful to view- I skipped through most of it to see the end. I don’t necessarily think that its less immoral because they all knew each other, but I believe that there would have been an even greater negative reaction (and maybe even legal action) had this been done to a stranger. I would definitely consider this going to0 far. The victim of the prank looks so terrified- this could have been seriously emotionally scarring for him. Sam Pepper could have come up with a better idea… something funny and harmless, instead of cruel and insensitive!!!!
This video was absolutely crazy and it shows how far people are willing to go to create entertainment. Watching the absolute panic that the kid experienced was disturbing, not enjoyable. Viewing this clip gives me a bad impression of the youtubers who created it because what they did seemed so cruel. It just shows how people who create content need to be careful what they post otherwise they may lose their fanbase. Entertainment can only go so far before it hits the level of inappropriate.
This is a very loose definition of “prank”.