Almost every person will come face to face with a bully at some point during their childhood – but how many of those kids are actually given the support and help that they need from adults who are willing to stand up and defend them against the people picking on them?
According to a revealing new social experiment video, which examines adults’ behavior in the face of very obvious, and very cruel, examples of public bullying, that number is very low.
Created by Burger King as part of National Bullying Prevention Month, the clip sees a young child – portrayed by an actor – being mercilessly picked on by a group of older kids while numerous adults look on in horror, but do nothing else to prevent their shocking behavior. Ironically, those same adults, however, don’t hesitate to pipe up when they want to complain about a bad burger order.
Cruel: A new social experiment video reveals how adults react when they see a child being bullied in public – demonstrating that almost every grown-up chooses to sit in silence
In the video, an actor hired to play a high school junior can be seen being tormented by his peers while eating at a Burger King and no one stepping in to help.
The bullying continues with the kids teasing and picking on the young man and at one point asking him, ‘do you have any friends’.
They even pour water onto his food and push him down onto the floor but only a select view say something to stop the bullying.
That isn’t the case for the Whopper Jr however as multiple people can be seen lining up at the register to complain about their ‘bullied’ burger.
It’s clear that the customers are very unhappy and confused about their ruined burgers that the Burger King cashiers describe as bullied – punched, smashed, destroyed.
But the actor hired to play a Burger King employee holds his ground and asks the angry customers if they ordered their whopper bullied or un-bullied.
The employee then asks a customer if he would have spoken up if he saw him ‘bullying this burger’ to which the customer says yes despite not having stood up for the young man being picked on.
A sad truth: In the video, people were seen more likely to complain about their ruined food than a teen getting bullied
By the numbers: Thirty per cent of school kids worldwide are bullied each year and bullying is the number one act of violence against young people in America today
Ninety-five per cent of people are also more likely to complain about ruined food whereas only 12 per cent are likely step in when someone is being bullied, as can be seen in the anti-bullying promotion.
An outcome that was shocking but one that can be changed. For the people that did stand up against bullying, they offered words of wisdom and company for the emotionally and physically harassed teen.
‘We know that bullying takes on many forms, physical, verbal, relational and online. But the first step to putting an end to bullying is to take a stand against it,’ Nicholas Carlisle, CEO and Founder of No Bully said.
‘Our partnership with the Burger King brand is an example of how brands can bring positive awareness to important issues. You have to start somewhere and they chose to start within.’
The video also reveals that a shocking 30 per cent of school kids worldwide are bullied each year – and bullying is the number one act of violence against young people in America today.
This isn’t the first time, a video has been released in the hopes of stopping bullying. A couple years ago, a tear-jerking video showed teenagers picking on a young girl at a bus stop to test whether people would intervene to help the poor victim and luckily some members of the public did step in to reprimand the bullies.
Stepping in: One of the customers came to the aide of the young man being bullied
A shocking outcome: CEO and founder of No Bully, Nicholas Carlisle said ‘The first step to putting an end to bullying is to take a stand against it’
And this month, Monica Lewinsky was featured in a PSA video aimed at getting people to think long and hard about the fact that cruel, racist, and bigoted comments are so commonplace on the internet when they’re not tolerated in real life.
In recent years, bullying has become an epidemic with the constant tormenting driving kids to commit suicide. It’s the third leading cause of death among young people, resulting in about 4,400 deaths per year, according to the CDC and for every suicide among young people, there are at least 100 suicide attempts.
‘Bullying really gets attention when there’s a dramatic act like a suicide or sadly, some school violence stemming from bullying,’ Nicholas told NPR.
And while the No Bully founder thinks the suicide numbers have been consistent over the years, he hopes that changes will be made to stop bullying, especially in schools.
‘If we invest in building strong school communities so the students actually want to be at school and feel happy there and want to get along. That reaps dividends in terms of reducing violence and bullying,’ he said.
And if we teach children social and emotional skills, they actually reduce their bullying behaviors, the levels of suspensions and expulsions in schools and boost academic results. So it’s a win-win all around.’