Parents these days tend to give their children phones, tablets and iPads for entertainment or education purposes. However, these devices will also give them access to content that is not appropriate for them.
Recently, a character from a video game franchise known as Huggy Wuggy went viral among children.
The Huggy Wuggy is a giant blue doll with a set of gnashing teeth that is extremely appealing. Since then, parental groups and authorities have been warning parents about the horrifying blue creature and the contents it produce.
One of the songs ‘until you breathe your last breath’ has prompted children to reenact the video by hugging each other extremely tight and whispering its lyrics.
“I could hug you forever until you breathe your last breath. My teeth sharp and ready, in my grasp, yeah they’re deadly.” the song wrote.
According to a report by Snopes, a concerned parent shared an email she received from her child’s school to safeguard them from ‘Huggy Wuggy’.
“The character can be easily viewed on YouTube channels and is a teddy bear with razor-sharp teeth that sings worrying songs about hugging and killing.”
“On one video, the bear asks the viewer to take their last breath.”
“It is a very deceiving character and because of its name, it can infiltrate firewalls and filters.” the email said.
Meanwhile, the creator of the Huggy Wuggy lyrics has since responded to the trend and uploaded their statement on the video.
“I have noticed that there are a few misleading stories and posts that are driving traffic to this video recently.”
“I completely understand your concern, but the articles aren’t correct. Huggy Wuggy is and was always a monster in a horror game.”
“I have marked this video “Not for Kids” upon upload and it does not appear in the YouTube Kids app.” he said.
While content creators have the responsibility to assess if their content is children-friendly, parents too should do their part in making sure the content their children is consuming are appropriate.
Let’s hope that we know what to do when videos of Huggy Wuggy come across our timeline when our children are watching.
