The police department of Mumbai, India channeled the "red light, green light" challenge from Netflix's Squid Game in a social media video reminding drivers about the importance of traffic safety.
The South Korean survival drama series Squid Game quickly became a massive international success after after it premiered earlier this year, its debut season attracting audiences from all over the world. The show has played a particularly prominent role in social media, inspiring content ranging from Spider-Man crossover fan art to a Toy Story animations to potentially dangerous Tik Tok trends. On Instagram, the official account of the police department of Mumbai joined in on the Squid Game craze in an effort to harness the horror of the show's "red light, green light" challenge to do some good. The department shared a clip from the series' premiere episode that adds a twist ending to demonstrate the potential real-life consequences of ignoring a red light.
At first, the social media clip follows the progression of the show, from the announcer's explanation of the first game's rules to Player 324's failure to follow them. But in lieu of the player's elimination, the end of the video cuts to an actual dash-cam video of a car crash. The crash appears to be caused by a driver ignoring the instructions of a traffic light, and the resulting collision leaves two cars mangled in the intersection.
"You are the 'frontman' of your 'game' on the road: you can save yourself from getting eliminated," wrote the Mumbai police department. "Stop at red lights. #SafetyNotAGame #EliminateSpeedGames."
The notorious "red light, green light" sequence has actually been used to encourage traffic safety in the real world before. In the beginning of October, Netflix installed a 10-foot replica of Squid Game's giant singing doll outside a mall in the Philippine capital of Manila. There, the doll stands vigilant near a crosswalk as a deterrent to jaywalkers. If it catches a pedestrian using the crosswalk out of turn, its eyes light up red, and its head swivels to face the offender.
Netflix recently confirmed that Squid Game has become the streaming platform's most popular series launch of all time, surpassing former record-holder Bridgerton. Garnering viewership from over 100 million households in its first month on streaming, the series is poised to create $1 billion in value for Netflix. Even in China, where the streamer is unavailable and authorities have banned Squid Game altogether, millions of Chinese residents have still watched the show through illegal distribution.
Source: Instagram