In March, we saw the “Cheese Challenge” become popular on social media, in which people filmed themselves throwing slices of cheese on their pets and uploading the videos to Twitter and Instagram.  Now, a new trend is sweeping the Internet: the Brick Challenge! The Brick Challenge is what you would expect it to be: people posting videos of themselves throwing bricks at their pets, instead of cheese.  This challenge has had a variety of responses.  One Twitter user wrote: “After I threw a brick at my dog, he just stood there motionless, it was so hilarious! It was just like the Cheese Challenge, but there was blood everywhere! I’m totally going to try the challenge again, but I need to get a new dog first.”

Some people have been concerned about the possible dangers of throwing bricks at animals.  One animal researcher spoke about how unknown the dangers are, and what could happen if people started throwing more dangerous objects at their pets.  “You know, there’s just not enough research about what happens to a pet’s body when you throw a brick at it.  There could be a million dangers of this challenge that we don’t know about yet, and the big brick companies are going to try and hide them from us. And I mean, it’s a slippery slope.  First it’s cheese, then it’s bricks, then it’s Boar Vessel, 600-500 BC, Etruscan, ceramic.” Animal rights organization PETA also put out a statement about the challenge. “Throwing bricks at your pets is wrong, and it’s animal abuse.  How about you try something more harmless, like throwing bricks at your children?” PETA also posted an “example” video to their Twitter account of the challenge being performed on a child. Along with the video was the caption, “No animals were harmed in the creation of this video.” Despite the warnings, a number of celebrities have tried attempting the Brick Challenge, including Michael Vick, as well as Lonathyn Jastname, before his tragic death.  Jack Black also claimed to have tried the challenge out on his pet bird, but this was later disproven due to the fact that birds aren’t real.