It's just heartless and unjustified.

I guess I just explained the human race with that sentence though huh...

No not funny

This video epitimises the human race, selfish and cruel

whycantibelinus:
The disappointment on his face was heartbreakingly hilarious!

Wow. I mean, just WOW.

Yeah, I can't help but feel if they had given the kid an XBOX after, they'd have shown that in the video too.

As much as I dislike kids, that's just plain horrible to do to one.

Sure it's old but seems a lotta people here hadn't seen it before.

Semitendon:

First off, while it is indeed possible for people to be that cruel to their children, nay, even crueler. . . . I am highly suspicious of this video.

Let me tell you why.

1. The parents have magically aquired a X-Box 360 box. To get this box, they would have had to buy an x-box OR have borrowed the box from someone who had bought one.

2. At the end of the video, two people leave the room, in the background. The video ends a few seconds later.

I am familiar with the classic trick of buying a badly wanted item, switching the item for something else, and then letting the person open the box. The person is filled with joy at the sight of the box, but when opened, is crushed, because it appears their joy was misplaced. This is followed by revealing that they really did get the item, and bringing them full circle back to a state of joy.

With the exception of the end of the trick not being shown in the video, this trick fits perfectly.

I would guess that they actually have the X-box in another room. They wait for him to be crestfallen, then the two people in the background, go get it, and reveal that the kid actually got what he wanted all along. The video doesn't show us the reveal at the end.

That said, my theory is circumstantial, it may be that they actually don't have the X-box, and have gone through great pains to set up a trick for the sole purpose of hurting their childs feelings.

But, the parents are video taping the incident. This implies a desire to see a reaction again, and again. This means that either, they plan to enjoy the surprise real X-box trick over and over, OR they want to watch the utter destruction of joy over and over.

Given the evidence and nature of the average American parent, I find it much more likely that there is a real X-box waiting off screen.

That said, either these parents are just playing a classic prank, OR they are a pair of sadistic assholes.

You explained it pretty darn well there. I was sort of thinking the same thing there. I mean what kind of asshole would really do that to their kid, then publish it online? I think you may be right in it being a double prank, with the real XBox being hidden away.

But, just in case they really are assholes, here's the antithesis to that video:

I want to know where they got the 360 box from in the first place.

they are definitely jerks if they didn't give the kid an Xbox after if not it is pretty funny but kind of cruel to post it online. Anyways it is better when you just give kids what the want and they go crazy that is what is really funny like with this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3gbDQjXBdA funny and not depressing

What an asshole. Christmas should be for everyone to be happy, not playing cheap tricks.

At first i laughed like a fucking hyena, "what geniuses!" i thought.

But then uh... It dawned on me. This is a small child on the greatest, most anticipated day of the year. He thought he was getting an xbox! How cool would that be? But no, nothing even remotely gaming related was in that box.

I would've smacked a bitch or two, that's for sure.

I can sort of see the hilarity of it, for about a second. It would have been funny if one of the other boxes looked like they contained clothes but really had a console in it.

Another cynic is born.

It's the way he looks at them so expectantly and sad and they laugh at him, then they even try to justify the prank by sayign they can't afford it.. it's bit of a dick move if they don't have it offscreen.

I wish I wasn't so empathatic, that killed me a little bit inside x_X

it wasn't funny. P.S how is 1 year old?

I remember once my dad did the opposite of this. I desperatly wanted a GBA, so on Christmas Day he gave me a box - I opened it, and it was a shoebox. Slightly upset, I continue to open - and inside was a brand new Game Boy Advance. :D

But this is just mean. Unless they really did have it in the other room...

Pm0n3y:
Damn, me and that kid have something in common: neither of us have a Xbox.
...well i did, but it died today.

My heart goes out to you.

It almost made me cry. That poor kid. . .

As someone who has a personal connection with how this kid felt ( I really wanted a Razor Scooter for my birthday, and when I opened the box it wasn't there.) Even though they were just charging it in the garage, it just makes you so sad to get extremely excited just to be disappointed. Though I doubt these idiots actually got an Xbox and hid it like my parents....

Cruel pranks make me die a little inside too OP :(

Those parents are just big dick holes. You'd think parents would not get lolz for seeing their kid sad.

It would have been funny if it wasn't his parents, or if they didn't laugh like maniacs when he opened it up.

You have to consider the fact that his parents probably gave him one just after this video. No harm, no foul I guess.

An xbox is never something to joke about.... it is just wrong

I had to turn it off, made me unhappy.

At least do it when he can cope with the joke, how old is the kid? Not old enough for that cheap shot.

Hardcore_gamer:
There this a fine line between a prank that is cruel and funny and a prank that is cruel and.....well not funny.

This made me die a little inside: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHTIOIE1HGI

This would probably have been somewhat funny if the kid had been a teenager say 14-15 years old but playing such a mean prank on a kid that young is simply not amusing in the slightest as far as i am concerned.

I mean look how happy the kid looks at first and how sad he then becomes once he sees the whole thing was just a "prank". And to make it even worse his parents even mock him...

"HAHAHAHAHAHA I AM SORRY BUT WE COULD NOT AFFORD AN XBOX HAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

Utterly pathetic.

This video is quite old. Also, in the original video's description, not the link you posted, but the one before it was recirculated over and over, was a note saying something about the kid sneaking a look the night before, and they found out, so they pulled this prank on him, but not to worry, because he got the real present afterwards.

^{Hope this restores your faith in humanity a TEENSY bit.}

j0z:
That is beyond low... I can't imagine doing that to a little kid. If I was rich, and knew about this soon after it happened, I would have bought the kid a shiny 360 elite, just out of spite for the parents.

My sentiments exactly. When I first saw that video (a while back), I looked around to see if anyone had tried to come up with a drive to track down the kid and get him a 360, like that guy whose autographed 360 got wiped clean only to have it replaced by the Bungie Team with interest. Sadly, I didn't find anything like that, but I really hope this kid's gotten his 360... and that his parents learn to be better human beings.

Meh, I lol'd.

And ten years later on the news we see that this child has turned into a mass murderer. woo-hoo

A cruel prank indeed, even if they did have an xbox just around the corner asking your kid to "cry into the camera" is a screwed up notion. The kid was utterly shattered and I feel for him.

I lol'd......sorta

Saw this video a long time ago.It's as sick now as it was then.

Well, at least he won't be screaming slurs on the headset of his new sweater!

But it was pretty mean, getting his hopes up then dashing them. He would have gotten over it by now.

I'm torn as to what to believe happened. At face value, these parents are bad at pranks at best, sadists at the worst. If there's a 360 off-screen as many have suggested, this video was cut to shed poor light on them.

They could have just thought it would be funny but not really thought it through. Then tried to justify it when they realized, "oh crap, that was dickish of us", hence trying to explain it to him; "we're too poor", and promising another gaming something.

If they earnestly thought that prank was good after following through, yeah, they're jerks, but it happens. When I was in primary school, my dad once promised me I could skip school Monday if I did a crapload of ridiculous chores over the weekend. Of course, unbeknownst to me, it was Labor Day weekend. There are better examples, but you don't need my life story. Over time, I've accepted the fact that my dad can be a dick sometimes. We still have a healthy relationship, I just take everything he says with an industrial-size box of salt. I hope these parents don't get ticked at the kid when he doesn't get super-excited about something they actually give him.

Here's my holding out for hope, though; they also own a camcorder, which aren't super expensive anymore, but not something people without disposable income have. They also have a 360 box. Two guys walk off screen just before the cut. So, if this is the classic prank with the happy ending (that the viewer doesn't see), the person who posted it so edited is the real dick for attempting to make people hate the parents.

EDIT: From the post above where they explain what happened; I failed the test missing secret option D, retaliation for the kid peeking, but they still give it to him later. Seems decent enough to me.

grimsprice:

Supreme Unleaded:
If you read the comments one of them says "good, another no good kid is off of Xbox Live", and you know what, im going with that.

^{that wasnt me by the way, some random guy, but it fits my thoughts well}

Thats cold man, just cold. Put yourself in his shoes. Thats the point.

Well with my experiences with kids both online and IRL i hate their guts and i wish i was never one. Plus im a cold person.