Netflix is begging fans not to participate in the “Bird Box Challenge,” a viral social-media stunt that centers on people putting on blindfolds and sometimes injuring themselves or others.
“PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE,” Netflix tweeted Wednesday.
In the Netflix horror movie Bird Box, Sandra Bullock and other characters blindfold themselves to avoid seeing monsters that take the form of people’s worst fears, causing them to commit suicide.
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Shortly after the movie came out in December, Bird Box fans started posting social-media videos of themselves running around while blindfolded in the #BirdBoxChallenge.
The videos have gone viral, with one video of two women doing the challenge for 24 hours garnering nearly 2 million views on YouTube. At one point in the video, the blindfolded women fall down on a moving walkway.
In another clip, a blindfolded man is shown running with a blindfolded toddler. As he runs away holding the child’s hand, the toddler runs straight into a wall.
Netflix’s tweet, which is a move reminiscent of Tide urging customers not to eat Tide detergent pods as part of 2018’s “Tide Pod Challenge,” also referenced two Bird Box characters to stave off future injuries. “Boy” and “Girl,” Netflix claimed, are urging viewers not to injure themselves in the pursuit of meme fame.
“Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes,” the tweet read.
