If you attend a wedding, bachelorette party, bar mitzvah, reunion, or any type of gathering in the next six months to a year (or whenever the fad wears out) chances are good that you’ll be asked to participate in a mannequin challenge, the viral internet video fad in which people stand perfectly still engaged in some sort of frozen scene while being filmed. These videos are for the most part all in good fun, and have gained in popularity thanks to celebrities such as Taylor Swift and the Kardashians, who went so far as to bring the challenge into Blac Chyna’s delivery room.
The mannequin challenge in the above video is slightly different, however. With some help from the Grant County Sheriff’s Department (which Grant Country in the United States is unclear), a group of people put together an elaborate scenario warning of the dangers of heroin addiction. In the video, titled “The Worst Mannequin Challenge, “a bunch of shocked bystanders look on outside of a trailer park and the camera gradually winds down to a residence being approached by paramedics. Inside the camera pans by distressed children and happy family photos to the scene of a tragedy: a group of five adults who have all apparently overdosed… at the same time?
If the message seems to be a bit heavy handed and over-dramatic, it is later revealed that it was inspired by tragedy, as one of the participants reveals that he himself lost a family member to heroin addiction. “Don’t f*ck around with this,” the man tells the camera over a gravestone. “You could end up the same way.”
(Via Reddit)