It’s been a while since Mister A plus K’s (those are the initials of Ashton Kutcher’s initials, in case you didn’t know) last episode for MTV’s Punk’d, the prank show where Ashton had little kids scream, “You ruined Christmas!” at Queen Beyoncé.
While nothing could possibly be as epic as that, Ashton makes an attempt with a new gag he’s circulating on the Internet where he asks unwitting participants to place their smartphones face-down on a table, and place their hands on top of fake sensors.
Before he leaves the room, he asks each participant to keep their hands on the sensors. Outside, he and a friend begin texting and calling the participant who can’t see who is contacting them because their smartphone screens are hidden from view.
The comedy is in seeing the sheer agony of these people dying to know who is calling, and what for. Once they touch move to reach for their phones (one guy made a futile attempt at nudging it with his nose), an alarm sounds off and the room turns red.
One person made it to six seconds without touching his phone, while an Asian woman lasted 45 seconds—but “it felt like forever!” she remarked.
While we have no doubt that smartphone addiction is real—how many of you are reading this article on your phones right now?—Ashton’s whole point wasn’t really to diagnose these people with addiction, but to hawk the new Moto X Pure Edition, which is a hand-free phone.
What that means is, if a text comes in, the phone will tell you who texted and the contents of that text message. We don’t know about you, but that’ll make for some pretty awkward situations. Imagine having Sunday lunch with the fam and receiving a message from your boyfriend that suggests that you need a little parental control. Or asking your boss if you can take the day off for “medical reasons,” just as your friend texts to confirm your rendezvous point en route to La Union.
That would’ve made a much funnier prank video, in our opinion! Ashton, you’re losing your touch. Maybe it’s probably time to hang up that Punk’d trucker cap once and for all.
[Nylon]
Photo courtesy of Jezebel
