Recently, an Instagram viral video has created anger when a reel creator is seen taking away a woman’s slipper forcing her to move bare feet by the escalator. It was a prank that did go too far with the sense of endangering the safety of the lady. A footage shared by the popular Instagram prank page depicts a reel known as ‘Gst Prank,’ which boasts more than 50,000 followers.
In the video, a prankster approaches a woman in a mall and stealthily removes her slipper. He distracts her by tickling her foot, causing her to scratch the itch. As she does so, the prankster snatches her slipper and rushes to the escalator. Left with no choice, the woman is forced to take the escalator without her footwear.
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The reel creator did intend to amuse, but the whole scenario of making the woman walk barefoot on the escalator made her serious concerns about escalators. In case escalators are not used correctly, especially without shoes, they can be dangerous. The netizens were quick enough to point out some real dangers of electric shock and injury. Commenters of the post voiced that walking barefoot on escalators can lead to serious accidents, including electric shocks.
One user noted, “It‘s dangerous to step on an escalator without shoes. Sometimes, it could even give you an electric shock.” The video that was shared initially for laughs elicited widespread condemnation for recklessness.
The video went viral on the web, but instead of humour, it was accompanied with criticisms from viewers. People condemned the creator to have put the woman at harm and called for influencers to use more responsible pranks and not put people at their mercy. Many condemned their approach to content making: not putting people at peril for the sake of entertainment.
This viral video serves as a reminder that such dangers are associated with social media pranks, which have to be kept under the radar for considerations of safety over sensationalism.
