This YouTube video was recently released to remind parents that child abductions do happen and that parents need to be vigilant about watching their children, especially in public places. Drawing more than a million views and still climbing since it was posted this Saturday. Its proven to be the effective reminder that it was intended to be. The video was created by Joey Saladino, known by his huge online following as extreme prankster JoeySalads.
Joey came up with the idea, originally as part of a prank. “As I was thinking of extreme prank ideas, I had an idea where I would abduct a child, but I can’t abduct random people’s kids, so I scrapped the idea. Then I thought, I wonder how easy it would be to abduct someone else’s child? I thought I should put this to the test because no one has ever tried it, and I thought: Are kids actually safe from predators?”
Saladino then went to a park and got 3 parent’s permission to try and take their children. He approached each child with a puppy and then asked if they wanted to see more. All three children said yes, to each parent’s shock and dismay. “No parent knows how their child would react to a stranger, so that’s why I put it to the test.”
This is a scary reminder to all parents to teach your children how to react to strangers. Saladino wants this video to serve as a PSA that “All I am trying to do is protect children, a parent can turn their head one minute to talk to a friend, and their kid is gone.”