We all know that pranks are the best ways to mess with anyone – may it be our friends, family, significant others, or just anyone we know, like our neighbor! But sometimes, people fail to deliver the pranks just the way they hoped. Instead of being funny, the jokes just fall flat and may sometimes even come as rude or offensive to others. Some can even cause harm to others.
Nobody wants that! Pranks are meant to be funny and light-hearted. It’s meant to be a funny story to tell people at parties that everyone will think is clever, not something of a flop or a sick joke. If you are somewhat of a prankster or a trickster yourself, you should keep reading to know what to avoid when doing pranks!
Examples Of Bad Pranks
What makes a prank bad? The short answer to this is that bad pranks are just pranks that aim to demean, humiliate, or harm others. Even if, sometimes, pranksters don’t intend to harm their victims but do so anyway, it can still be considered a lousy prank because of the lack of risk assessment.
Don’t get us wrong; pranks don’t need to be complicated. You won’t need to conduct a formal risk assessment or a SWOT analysis like you do in some school subjects. It means that you just need to see what’s coming for you as much as possible. Because in the end, it is YOUR prank, and you should take responsibility for it.
To give you more idea about what makes a prank “bad,” we scoured through Reddit for the worst practical jokes ever made. And by bad, we mean they’re terrible!
Bad Prank #1
Proof that pranks shouldn’t be physically harmful because it could lead to assault: Here’s a comment from a deleted Reddit user as of writing (May 22, 2024) in the sub /AskReddit
“Not a prank but back in high school a guy was passed out on the couch at a party, someone thought it would be funny to pour boiling water on his chest to wake him up.
Kid was charged with assault, and the guy who was burned was in the hospital for a long time, and had a very lengthy and painful recovery.
I would have stopped it had I been in the room, I was outside at the time and heard a blood curdling scream, ran inside and had seen what happened, cops and ambulance were on scene within 15 minutes.”
Bad Prank #2
Pranks aren’t meant to humiliate anyone! Here’s one bad prank from Reddit user Halikan to show that it’s meant to insult people and just call it a “joke.”
“Got invited to a Halloween party in elementary school. I was told it was a costume party, but it was not.
I showed up in the worst costume imaginable. Sonic. Oversized shoe coverings, face paint, a whole suit. The works. Imagine the commonly found magazine ad for the costume, except homemade, because we were low income and my mom loved me enough to make one.
I showed up, and the party died. Music stopped, everyone stared. I didn’t stay. Never spoke to anyone there again. Never really trusted much after that either.”
Bad Prank #3
User ZombieDavid shows us that you should not put just any random substances into people’s bodies.
“Friend and little sister decided to draw on me with makeup one night. Lo and behold that was the night we found out I was allergic to many types of makeup. Was out of school for a few days due to the rash/welted penises they drew all over my face.”
Now that you’ve wrapped your head around what makes a bad prank, don’t feel bad because there are many ways that you can make jokes without making it bad. The chances of making bad pranks are slim, and most of the time, they are fun – when done in the right way!
Do you know what always makes a good prank?
Prank calls! No, you will not call your local pizza place and order ten boxes and send it to another address. That’s cruel! We mean taking advantage of spoof call apps like Ownage Pranks to prank your friends and family!
What is a spoof call app, you ask? Spoof call apps are simple. They gather some information from you, like your name, phone number, etc., and hide it all under a fake number. This way, you won’t be needing a burner phone to stay discreet with your practical jokes. That’s not all! You won’t need to practice other voices to keep your phone voice unrecognized by your friends. Why? It comes with a voice-changing feature to easily change your voice to a man, a woman’s, or a child’s. Another added feature to make your calls realistic is that they also have different background noises to choose from. Cool, huh? Just make sure to keep things light and legal because as much as any average Joe couldn’t trace these calls, you still wouldn’t want to mess with the authorities and their more advanced tech resources.
We’re sure you’ll keep it light-hearted, though, because we are about to tell you the four main things you should NOT do when pranking!
Things You Shouldn’t Do When Pranking:
1. Do not push through when you have bad intentions
Be honest with yourself when you ask, “Why am I doing this?” Is it to have a little light-hearted laugh with your victim, or is it to demean another person you don’t like? If your answer is the first one, you should go for it! But if it’s the second one, you should rethink your choices and think there are healthier ways to cope with what you feel. You don’t need to like them, but it is unnecessary to harm or humiliate them either! In the end, you will still be accountable for the dangers you may cause, and it won’t be pretty. Whatever intention you have initially will always show eventually, so keep it good-natured!
If you are bored and just want something to pass the time by and you don’t have a lot of prank ideas in mind, you can try playing games! Here are the 14 strategy games for Android and IOS users.
2. Read the room
You wouldn’t make a prank to someone grieving and has lost someone special, would you? Okay, that may be just a grim and extreme example, but we think you got the point! Like any other thing, you should do pranks at the right timing. Yes, the unpredictability of doing a stunt is a massive help; you should do it on occasions where the mood is ready to receive a practical joke. It’s hard to tell you exactly when to do pranks and when precisely not to. These are things that only you can tell.
You just need to practice enough intuition and sensitivity with your environment. Because if you happen to pull a prank during bad timing, it might just flop or fall flat. We don’t want that for you!
So read the room, folks!
3. Do not make pranks that will hurt their race, class, or gender
As of writing, not a lot of people think that offending someone else’s race, class, or gender is still funny. Society has progressed beyond that, and people are starting to be more sensitive with their jokes. Besides, don’t you think it’s a bit mean if you make jokes out of people’s struggles? Don’t worry; there are still countless ways to have fun without being politically incorrect! It’s such a good prank when you don’t hurt someone’s identity. Some people of color and other minorities may find it tasteless when you do an insensitive joke. You can do pranks better than that!
4. Do not prank if you are not willing to take a prank in return
They say you shouldn’t laugh at other people when you can’t even laugh at yourselves. This is particularly true when it comes to pranks! Just as a rule of thumb, don’t do pranks that you are unwilling to receive. Because if you can’t even accept such a prank yourself, then what makes you think you can do it to other people? It doesn’t mean that you will always be pranked in return when performing such practical jokes. It’s more of being self-aware of what you are doing to other people. But hey, a good prank battle would be cool as well! As long as you can handle it! *wink wink*
Now that you know how NOT to do pranks, you should probably know how to pull off a prank that is not insensitive and just overall funny! We don’t want you to go through a lengthy effort just to fall onto your face. It’s not a very good look, isn’t it? Keep these in mind, and you will be just fine! Good luck and happy pranking!
