It’s now 7 years since the untimely death of TV’s Jeremy Beadle, but rather than commemorate that sad anniversary with a sober but tasteful small finger buffet (sorry Jeremy, but thanks Popbitch), we've decided to celebrate British TV’s original prankster with a content highlight that borrows heavily from the TV format he helped to popularise.
But this piece from boxing and gym fitness brand Everlast is no empty reproduction of Beadle’s About. It packs a proper punch (sorry again). The stunt here raises awareness of sexual harassment of women by men in Peru. Somehow, the makers have managed to gather nominations for some street lechers well-known for their distasteful comments to women. They’ve then created a set-up to secretly film the men throwing a few inappropriate sexual comments at some passing women. But the passing women happen to be the harassers' mothers in disguise…
We have to hope that what unfolds here is real and not in any way acted, because if it is, it’s sensational content. It’s truly gripping TV that understands an audience’s voyeuristic desire to witness a thrilling (and often funny) social car crash, but also to see a perpetrator of a transgression publicly shamed.
With that recipe, it’s a delight. But significantly for Everlast, it does more than merely entertain. It reveals a strong editorial mission by aligning them with a campaign to raise awareness of a serious issue, and it may even make some of Peru’s less enlightened chaps think of their Mums before wolf-whistling. Jeremy would have been really proud of this one.