Kolkata-based influencer Pantha Deb has kicked up a social media storm after posting a video of his “24 hours begging challenge.” The Instagram video shows him posing as a beggar for a day to see how much money he could collect. Pantha, who has more than 2,500 followers, captioned the post with, “24 hours begging challenge.”
In the video, Pantha addresses the challenge to his audience and proceeds to position himself under a bridge. He is dressed in a torn T-shirt and jeans, holding a bowl. Pantha asks people passing by for money. The video footage captures mixed reactions; while some people stopped to offer money, others ignored him entirely.
The video ends up with a twist as it is seen donating the sum of money raised to an older homeless woman. It gave another meaningful twist to the campaign and, consequently, heated up debate in the streets.
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The video elicits polarized reactions when viewed online. Some mocks the influencer for soliciting attention by stunts, while others appreciated it for being generous to such a homeless old woman.
Pantha is famous for his pranks and social experiments, creating over 180 videos. The video has mostly focused on light-hearted challenges and social observations, but this challenge really sparked a debate regarding the ethics of such stunts among his modest followers.
Such instances raise questions regarding the ethics of using social issues as entertainment. Many are debating whether it is actually an effort to bring out societal problems or merely a means to attract attention online.
