By The Editorial Board
Nicholas Perry, better known as “Nikocado Avocado”, is recognized for his grotesque “mukbangs” and binge-eating videos. Recently, he has been the face of what may be one of the biggest online social experiments.
On May 10, 2024, Perry announced he was giving up on his weight loss journey, after “attempting” it for the last two years. This led to a wave of online backlash and hate from his viewers calling him “sick” and “irrelevant.”
On Sept. 6, he posted a video called “Two Steps Ahead” that gained significant traction and blew up on social media. He started the video in a panda mask and slowly muttered, “This has been the greatest social experiment of my entire life.”
He went on to explain how social media can be deceiving while still incredibly stimulating to our brains. It’s “dangerous,” Perry says, because people unconsciously listen to what they are told. He describes his viewers as consumers who, like ants on an ant farm, crave constant feeding. After his monologue, Perry unveiled the panda mask, revealing his massive 200-pound weight loss and called himself “the villain” overseeing the ants.
For the past two years, Perry deceived his audience by uploading pre-recorded content, keeping his weight loss journey hidden. His act of deception gained over 40 million views, baffling people with his transformation. “Nikocado Avocado” represents an interesting side of content creation. Many of his videos are designed as “rage-bait” — content meant to provoke anger or disgust.
His social experiment centered around the phrase, “don‘t believe everything you see.” As online content becomes much more a part of the real world, the assumptions and decisions we make are often based on unreliable perceptions, distancing us from what is actually true.
Perry also describes his viewers as “thirsty for distraction,” saying they let stimulation influence and brainwash them. Using the comparison of the ants, he is directing the ant farm, dropping breadcrumbs on the ground and watching the ants follow willingly. People become deeply attached to online stories and narratives, allowing these stories to shape their identity. Perry’s experiment reveals how much power content creators have in this dynamic.
Now, just like there was no way to know that Perry was uploading pre-recorded videos, there shouldn’t be an expectation that online audiences need to know everything going on behind the scenes with digital media.
However, how we consume media needs to take center stage, especially when we are inclined to spread hate and negativity from it.
Studies show that 65% of Gen Z and 61% of millennials use social media as their preferred news source, illustrating how quickly we can become reactionary when news hits the forefront of our attention.
A lack of media literacy is a danger to how we come to conclusions, and Perry’s experiment underscores this message.
Just as he received hate for allegedly failing his weight loss journey, we often base our decisions on the assumptions of others rather than relying on our own judgement.
If you’ve ever witnessed or seen a video capturing “group think,” you’ll notice how easily people are swayed even when there is little evidence or support. As social creatures, we often disregard logic in favor of connecting with others.
We must be more mindful of how we consume media, as it can lead us to make poor decisions — especially when we are bored or lost. Ultimately, these habits can leave us more dissatisfied than we began with.
