Netflix began pleading for fans to stop the “Bird Box challenge” on Wednesday after the latest Sandra Bullock flick has inspired a new — and potentially dangerous — meme.
“PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE,” Netflix’s U.S. account tweeted. “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.”
In “Bird Box,” Bullock and two kids, only known as “Boy” and “Girl,” wear blindfolds to avoid supernatural spirits from conjuring uncomfortable thoughts and forcing them to commit suicide. The “challenge” has built off that, with viewers attempting to complete tasks while blindfolded, with varying degrees of success.
One particularly jarring attempt, viewed more than 15,000 times on Twitter, has a man leading a blindfolded baby into a wall.
Y’all gotta chill #BirdBoxChallenge 😂😂 why he do the baby like that pic.twitter.com/hspFdNHzTC
— SASSY🪭 (@sassymuseum) December 27, 2018
Several other “challenge” videos have popped up on YouTube and Twitter, including participants trying to drive around while blindfolded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVS_8kSxYWw
https://twitter.com/RealFakeShanti/status/1079539194861629440
Popular YouTuber Morgan Adams, whose channel has 2.3 million subscribers, posted a video of her trying to do a 24-hour “Bird Box challenge.” It’s pulled in more than 1.7 million views since being posted on December 30.
There are plenty more out there if you search using the #BirdBoxChallenge hashtag, if that’s your thing. Netflix said last week the movie was seen by 45 million viewers during its debut week — the best performance by any Netflix original show in its history.