By Olufunmilola Onabanjo
It was on a Friday. I stood by the roadside waiting to flag down a bus going to my destination. A guy walked towards me and stayed next to me. He was wearing a white kaftan, his hair was neatly trimmed and well, he looked normal like every other person. So I assumed he was also waiting to board a bus.
All of a sudden, this strange guy turned, pulled off the wig on my head, and maintained an arm’s length distance between us. I watched him smile and tease me with my wig in his hands. Soon my eyes brimmed with tears and anger. I felt even more embarrassed when many people stopped by to watch the agonizing display.
Soon, he threw the wig at me and said “It’s a prank!” With laughter in his voice. It was later I got to know that the guy pulls pranks on people and posts them on social media for a living. I didn’t know if it can be termed as creativity or absurdity.
These days, many people have taken the pranking business too far. Every time I scan through TikTok, YouTube and even Instagram, I see a lot of irresponsible pranks and wonder why these pranksters go to such lengths. It’s as if they are ready to pull expensive stunts just to gain five seconds of internet fame. Many a prankster believes being normal is boring hence he has to do something abnormal to trend on the gram- That’s how people can know he’s creative.
Recently, a video trended on Instagram where a guy pulled off a “Screaming prank” in a banking hall. The bank users turned in fear thinking it was an emergency until they saw him using his smartphone camera to record the insensitive act. The young prankster didn’t even care if there were hypertensive people in the hall. He saw it as a harmless thing to do. To him, he was having fun even when the bank security asked him to delete the video, he still went ahead to post it on his social media handle. See video below:
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There’s also a popular female prankster who goes to different markets and puts on a show of madness. At first, Nigerians believed maybe she had truly run mad. Not until they found out that was her style of pulling pranks on people. In one of her “Madness display” videos, many passers-by were in shock as some placed their hands on their heads while others simply shook their heads in pity. Check the video below:
She was also seen screaming in the video above with the caption “When you didn’t receive valentine’s gift from your partner…”
Although people indeed love to laugh and be entertained, it shouldn’t be at the expense of other people’s physical and mental health. These stunts can go wrong and cause damage to both the prankster and the victim.
So, as a prankster, you need to know your audience and how they could react to jokes. Study people’s body language. Don’t just pull a prank on anybody. You need to know how far is “too far” and tone things back. Not everyone thinks suddenly screaming out loud for no reason or scaring people is fun. You need to know some jokes cannot be retracted.
There are more ways to be creative and make your audience laugh than going to the marketplace to act like a mad man and woman for social media approval and engagements. No one is saying don’t pull pranks but do not pull expensive pranks on wrong people.
This right here!
These pranks are getting more insensitive and worrying as the days go by.
Makes me wonder how far future pranksters will go just for the sake of fame. And the thought, honest to God, scares me.
I love pranks though but pulling a ladies wig in public is not it at all. That’s embarrassing
It’s even how people dare those pranksters to do something they themselves can’t do. And because those pranksters want to become influencers fast, they go ahead and accept the challenge
I believe pranks should have its limit, sure everyone like to laugh and stuff, but pulling a prank in a bank is a little extreme, even if you were dared to perform a prank in a restricted area, you can always pull that same prank in another place and it will make sense, it’s all about perspective and how creative you are.
This isn’t even funny at all. Laws should be enacted against this kind of act abegg.
Well done Lola.
This needs to be addressed strictly.
I for slap one prankster one day for this naija
Omo I totally agree to this
Some pranksters do silly things and term it a prank
Like wtf is that
It’s ok if you want to trend on gram or on net using pranks but always do it right
Sometimes I see some pranks and I start to think what’s funny about this
Not creative about it
Just silly things
Anyways my opinion tho
I actually already know the guy from your description.
Just playing stupid and insensitive pranks…
I don’t get it honestly
😒
This is so true.
One thing that stood out for me in this piece is “You need to know how far is “too far” and tone things back”. I believe if people are able to realise this, they’ll be more sensible and creative pranks than the ‘doing the abnormal because it is abnormal’ pranks.