To NekNominate, Or Not To NekNominate?

You’ve seen the videos, news stories and messy aftermaths of a NekNomination. Now it’s time for the opinion – Soton Tab style. Edmund Bannister and Jess Gardiner guide you through the biggest internet phenomenon of the year so far.

Neck & Nominate – Exactly what the Internet Ordered – Edmund Bannister

The internet is a simple place: a forum for anything and everything but it is preferred that it is outstandingly stupid – and you’ll receive countless imaginary internet points if it is. You’ve surely seen the latest fad sweeping the internet: the Neck & Nominate.

For those who haven’t been on Facebook lately, a ‘Neck & Nominate’ is where someone films themself quaffing a pint or other amount in some quirky way, before nominating up to three of their friends to do the same within 24 hours, or be subjected to unending ridicule. There’s a lot of variation here – some choose to use their imagination, leading to some rather horrific concoctions. Others make no bones about the chore they regard it as.

Since most of the videos are uploaded onto Facebook, it’s harder to link to them in a publicly available article – which is a real shame, because I’ve seen some crackers. My personal favourite available on Youtube involves a woman riding her horse into a Tesco before performing her task as bemused staff demand an explanation, although it is unknown whether the horse exited as lasagne or burgers:

For a larger compilation, check here but I must hasten to warn you, one or two are pretty stomach charmingly vile.

So essentially, you’ve got to be a bit of a moron to participate, right? Well, yeah. It is magnificently cretinous, but sometimes that’s the fun of it. The Neck & Nominate fad has caught some serious flak, not least after the death of a man in Northern Ireland after he jumped into a river post-nomination. The propagators of the nanny state, encouraged by those who believe laws should supersede the need for something as unreliable as common sense, have once again leapt into action and called for a ban on the craze. Others have correctly criticised it as the vacuous shenanigans that it is, and subjected those who perform it to unending ridicule themselves. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Let’s address that death. The man chose to jump in a river while inebriated. Nobody coerced him, and the only duress he was operating under was his own egoistical need to outdo his friends. It was unfortunate that his attempt culminated in such a tragic scenario, but it cannot be held up and used as a stick to beat the whole concept. This is where common sense comes in – no individual is unaware of the effects of alcohol. Whatever the mixture you create, the results are your own responsibility. A judge will not show clemency for a crime committed while hammered and your lady friend won’t forgive you for telling her she’s put on weight (oops) even though you were just too drunk to censor yourself.

Personally, I think this whole trend is fantastic. It allows attention-deprived masochists to be seen doing something ridiculous, and it’s got a high potential for that most heinous of catchphrases, #epicbants. It all comes down to choice – if you want to display yourself drinking your own faecal matter on the internet, go for it. And if you really don’t like it – congratulations, you’ve been presented with an easy way of filtering the jackasses from your Facebook. Unless it’s this guy, who’s actually taken something popular but vacuous and used it to make a genuine social point:

Neck & Nominate, then. It’s polarised opinion – but who are we to try and stop people having whatever their own warped idea of fun is? It’s both witless and hilarious in equal amounts, and it’ll probably ruin a fair few employment prospects (mine involved a bottle of rosé, some poorly photoshopped gay pornography and some dubious puns, so I’m screwed) but really, that’s what the internet is for. It provides the platform for those moronic enough to want to share their idiocy and for those with actual sense to come along and fall about laughing – at least until David Cameron goes and decides that it’s endangering children, and summarily filters it. Dick.

NekNominate – Harmless Fun Or A Game We Can’t Be Trusted With? – Jess Gardiner

Over the last few days, my Facebook feed has been full, and I do mean full of Neknominate videos. The new craze sweeping the globe has been heavily criticised for promoting unhealthy drinking habits and encouraging dangerous competition between young drinkers. However, is the content of these videos really much more outrageous or daring than what would normally take place at a lively pre-Jesters drinking session? Why is it that downing these concoctions in front of a camera rather than your friends has caused such a stir?

Tragically, the game has been linked to two deaths thus far, which for good reason, has led to the Neknominate Facebook page being taken down. However, that’s hardly going to stop the growing number of people around the world posting videos of themselves drinking these creative cocktails. Wondering if/when you will receive any nominations, then trying to out-do your nominator by adding some pretty creative ingredients seems to be the aim of the game. I’ve watched a fair number of these videos, in the hope someone will do something funny (which is very rare), but watching people downing eggs mixed with vodka, milk, chillies, fairy liquid and whatever else, makes Jesticles or Sobar quads look like a dream beverage.

There are a lot of mixed opinions concerning the game, some saying its harmless fun, others dubbing it boring, many calling it dangerous. Although students get a fair amount of criticism (definitely just jealousy) concerning their drinking habits, it seems that actually- we’re pretty responsible. We drink so much so frequently that, arguably, we of all people know our limits best. It’s a rare special occasion (Jesters Mondays, Sobar Tuesdays, some Wednesdays and the weekends) that we will overstep these limits.

As if to make Jess’ point, here is the University of Southampton’s very own Beth Lempriere trying her hand at a NekNomination….

What do you think of Neck & Nominate? Bit of fun or dangerous? Have you spotted any particularly entertaining videos? Let us know in comments!