What is 'dumb ways to die' on TikTok? Origin explained as trend resurfaces online

If you are an avid TikToker, you might have come across the “dumb ways to die” trend on the short video-sharing application. The trend, which has made its way back onto the platform, has people doing funny and dangerous things with the song Dumb Ways to Die in the background.

From standing on a cliff edge to jumping in icy cold water in the middle of the snow, netizens are sharing all sorts of videos with the song in the background.

The song has been used more than 41,000 times on TikTok itself. The origin of the song dates back over a decade ago when it was released as part of Melbourne's public transport safety campaign. The 3-minute video shared by the Metro Trains campaign showed animated characters dying in all kinds of dumb ways.

From eating tubes of super glue to consuming expired medicines, the video showed the various ways people could potentially lose their lives. The final character in the video showed public transport-themed dumb deaths.

In it, the animated characters died after falling off a train station and from not stopping at a railway crossing. It even included a character walking on the tracks just as a train came in a hit the character.

The song has now resurfaced on social media in the form of a trend, as people are sharing their “epic fail” videos with this soundtrack in the background.

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Is the “dumb ways to die” trend dangerous?

Several people are posting videos of themselves undertaking some activity with the song playing in the background. Having the song in the background seems like most of the activities in the videos can be fatal for the person making the videos.

The videos that are uploaded under this trend range from dangerous to panic-inducing. One of the videos is that of a girl putting her face under a car's headrest with people trying to remove her head from the headrest. Another video has a girl twisting her ankle pretty badly as she runs.

Social media users shared "dumb ways to die" videos to participate in the trend. (Image via TikTok)

However, it is also worth mentioning that these videos can be triggering to several people as users are indulging in dangerous and sometimes harmful acts.

Several people are also sharing their reactions to this trend on other platforms, like Twitter. Claiming that it is their favorite thing, social media users are all about the trend at the moment.

While the song was a part of Melbourne’s public transport safety campaign, it soon became a video game that was released as an app for iOS in May 2012. The game requires players to avoid dangerous activities that were in the “Dumb ways to die” video. Some of them were putting a fork in the toaster and eating two-week-old unrefrigerated food.

A sequel to the game arrived in November 2014, called Dumb Ways to Die 2: The Games. Another part was released in December 2017, called the Dumb Ways to Die 3: World Tour. In this one, the players fixed houses to collect the coins.

Needless to say, all three versions of the game and all the videos that are being uploaded now, have entertained people thoroughly.