latsot alerted me to this hateful “prank” item for sale at Amazon:
Prank Pregnancy Test. 2 Testers. ALWAYS TURNS POSITIVE. Play Joke of a Lifetime. The Best April Fool’s Day Trick. FUNNY Gag Gadgets Series. DON’T WAIT, GET IT NOW!
by 78Seven
Price: £24.99 & FREE Delivery in the UK. Details In stock.
Comments
19 responses to “Hilarity ensues”
Photograph number 4 on the product page is especially ‘hilarious’. It features a man wringing his hair and a grim-faced woman saying “Ill bet he’ll wear a condom next time!”
I genuinely don’t know where to begin.
It’s also worth noting that – at least here in the UK – the fake pregnancy test is considerably more expensive than a real one. Like, pushing ten times more expensive.
I… don’t even know what to make of that. Somebody help me out here.
Do they have a photograph of a sobbing woman who’d thought she was finally pregnant after years of trying? I bet that’s hilarious.
That was my first thought. There is no circumstance in which this item could be considered funny.
It’s advertised alongside stink bombs and whoopie cushions.
Also: It seems to me that one would need to have a rather high level of intimacy with the person upon whom one is inflicting this prank. That’s not a joke, it’s a relationship-destroying level of pre-meditated betrayal of trust.
@Theo: YES.
Part of the “it’s just a prank!” genre of being fucking horrible, in which people think anything is funny and harmless if you call it a prank.
@Holms: It’s even worse than that. If you don’t find cruelty funny then clearly it’s your sense of humour that’s at fault because the thing is obviously a joke! It says so!
Practical jokes are often of that type, aren’t they? They can be things done with you and everyone laughs or things done to you and everyone laughs at you. They are almost always of the latter variety, which is a shame. I think we all like laughing at our own ridiculousness and we love to be fooled, but when it’s done as an act of cruelty, what the fuck?
Due to the old arther-right-us, my hands aren’t up to sleight-of-hand any more. So I’ve worked out some tricks based on memory that I can use with cards, counters, coins or whatever. There are almost infinite variations and my nieces and nephews sometimes catch me out and sometimes don’t. Needless to say it is much more fun for everyone when they work out the trick. That’s the reason I do it: not to make anyone feel stupid, but to make people laugh and to feel like they might make up their own tricks to fool me. It happens.
That’s what I mean. Practical jokes are only fun when the joke is on the perp rather than the victim. Or, more accurately, only when the joke is fun for everyone.
I love fooling my nieces and nephews with silly tricks I’ve worked out and love it even more when they work out how I did it.
That’s fun. That’s where practical jokes are fun.
A good practical joke, and right next to it in the suggestions, a not so good one.
@Holms: Though putting Nair in the shampoo bottle was a bad idea because of it being unsafe, I have to say that I did not find the first one funny either, and would certainly not call it a “good practical joke”. The poor guy in the shower ended up almost crying, and that just seemed to enhance the enjoyment of the prankster.
@holms Are you fucking kidding me? That is a video of someone being bullied, by all means go ahead and explain why it’s a joke.
The idea behind that prank is harmless, but any prank can be carried to the point of frustration / humiliation.
@Holms:
Still not seeing the humour. Please explain how this joke works if the victim is not at least frustrated if not outright humiliated. (And bear in mind that communal showers and change rooms are already terrifying places for many young people.)
@Holms: the idea isn’t harmless at all.
If the prank hadn’t lasted that long, before the point of frustration, it would have been fine. They also appear to be family, this would certainly not work if someone is being cornered by a stranger.
I’m going to skip looking at both of those.
@Ophelia: Good call
@Holms:
Siblings can be very nasty to one another – not sure why the family connection lessens the humiliation, since there are likely others observing in person, not to mention the fact that the video was posted on YouTube.
It clearly a family day at the beach / swimming pool or similar, and the only people visible or audible address each other by name. There might be others present, but they are not evident if so. But this is beside the point, as I am talking about the nature of the prank.