The American media-services provider Netflix has issued a warning to its customers after a meme challenge gone viral.
In what is called the 'Bird Box Challenge' (#BirdBoxChallenge), people are choosing to put blindfolds on and navigate their surroundings, just like how the characters in the post-apocalyptic drama thriller film 'Bird Box' did.
In the film which stars Sandra Bullock, her character Malorie Hayes was forced to wear blindfolds and navigate through the forest and a river to protect herself and her children from an evil monster.
If seen, this silent entity will turn people's eyes watery red with dilated pupils before finally making them commit suicide. In a gruesome manner, people kill themselves by smashing the head to a window, a desk, walking in front of a truck, using a gun, jumping out of a two-story building, or anything that can be done to end one's life.
"If you look, you will die," said Mallory in one scene.
Knowing that people walking around with their eyes closed in the real world can cause unwanted incidents, Netflix stepped in.
"PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE," said Netflix on its U.S. Twitter account.
The film Bird Box had its filming rights optioned by Universal Pictures back in 2013, or before the book's release. At that time, Scott Stuber and Chris Morgan were set to produce the film, with Andy Muschietti as its director, and Eric Heisserer as screenwriter.
In July 2017, it was announced that Netflix acquired the rights to the book, after Stuber became head of Netflix's feature film division. This gave Netflix the permission to develop the film, with Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich as casts.
The two were followed by Danielle Macdonald, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Sarah Paulson, Rosa Salazar, Lil Rel Howery, and Amy Gumenick.
In November 2017, Machine Gun Kelly and David Dastmalchian joined the cast also joined the cast, and Susanne Bier was announced as the director.
Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. 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.
— Netflix US (@netflix) January 2, 2019
The Challenge started in Australia, when Netflix partnered with four Twitch streamers for them to perform the Bird Box challenge, in which they would only play some popular video games with blindfolds on.
However, the challenge suddenly turned viral and became an internet phenomenon. Participants of the Challenge are wearing blindfolds to practically do day-to-day activities. And from there, the participants uploaded their own share of mishaps from navigating the world without seeing.
While the film received mixed reviews, Bird Box became Netflix's biggest first-week success of any movie made for the company in its almost 12 years in the video-streaming business.
Netflix said that it some 45 million of its subscribers worldwide were watching Sandra Bullock's thriller film during its first seven days on the service.
What this means, nearly one-third of Netflix’s 137 million subscribers watched the movie from December 21 through December 27.
This is why Netflix sees itself somehow responsible for this meme challenge, and urged its subscribers to not do anything too stupid. But things turned out the other way around as some subscribers who haven't done the Challenge, felt challenged after Netflix posted its warning.
Previously, a viral dance has gone viral and received its own share of controversies as it got some people arrested, fined, robbed and even injured.