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A video showing a one-year-old baby screaming in distress while his parents appeared to tattoo his arm, allegedly to win a free flat worth five million roubles (US$63,000), has sparked global outrage. The incident stemmed from a challenge launched by 26-year-old Russian influencer Andrey Burim, known online as Mellstroy, who boasts more than 7.6 million followers across social media platforms. stranger to controversy. In 2020, he sparked public outrage after crossing legal boundaries by physically assaulting a young model during a live-stream. To promote his online casino business, he launched a challenge inviting anyone online to take part. Participants can post any type of video content as long as they include a link to his casino. Mellstroy and his team would review the videos everyday and select their favourite entry to award a luxury flat worth five million roubles. The challenge ran from October 17 to November 17, during which 30 flats were given away. To win the grand prize, some participants have taken the challenge to dangerous extremes. Some people have torn up their passports, shaved their heads, or even tattooed the words “Mellstroy Game” directly onto their faces. Shockingly, a 17-year-old girl even set herself on fire. In one of the most disturbing cases, a woman is seen in a video picking up a tattoo machine, with the help of her husband, and tattooing a long string of letters, “Mellstroy Game” across the arm of a one-year-old toddler. The woman said: “We decided to join this competition. We have been living in a rental property for three years and simply cannot afford to buy a flat. We are drowning in debt and desperately want to win.” “We did not know how to surprise you, Mellstroy, so we decided to tattoo our one-year-old child,” she added. The child cried throughout the entire process. The video triggered public outrage, with netizens condemning their cruelty and demanding a police investigation. As the backlash intensified, the couple admitted the next day that the act had been staged. According to Izvestia, a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia, the mother clarified that the “tattoo” had actually been drawn with a pen. “We did not tattoo the child. We only pretended to do so,” she said. The contest has also sparked a backlash among Chinese netizens. One person said: “If posting such videos of kids is banned, some people might start targeting animals instead.” “This is a real-life Squid Game,” said another. While a third person said: “The influencer has more than 7 million followers? That just shows how many people have no moral bottom line.”
