In October, China ended its infamous one-child policy, opening the floodgates of civilian reproduction.
And when the most populous nation on Earth decided to lift its long-held restrictions on baby-making, you can bet that it had global repercussions.
Videos by VICE
As fate would have it, China’s historic policy change happened to coincide with a widespread wariness of domestic baby formula brands.
In 2008, a massive food safety failure led to the death of six infants from kidney damage, 54,000 infant hospitalizations, and 300,000 total cases of illness—not to mention numerous criminal prosecutions and executions of Sanlu Group executives.
Eight years later, and this confluence of factors continues to be felt around the planet. In Australia, for example, grocery store shelves were being emptied and buying limits were being imposed in an effort to curb the number of people buying infant baby formula and selling it to Chinese parents on the black market.
But in the Netherlands, the association between China and black market baby formula has taken an even more perverse turn. Late last year, a of video of two alleged Chinese proxy buyers fighting over milk powder went viral in Holland. Since then, retailers have been imposing buying limits of one or two packs per customer.
Despite these restrictions, two Dutch pranksters managed to get their hands on at least eight packs of baby formula and began targeting Asian men, first taunting them by asking if they want baby formula, then dumping entire packs of powder on them, in some sort of strange, racist twist on antiquing. Eight of these pranks were filmed and posted to YouTube with traditional Chinese music playing in the background.
As it turned out, the two young men behind the baby formula attacks are the “stars” of the Vatos Locos Pranks YouTube channel. Their brazen, discriminatory attacks quickly ignited a shitstorm on Chinese websites and forums and it wasn’t long before all of their personal information was uncovered and shared online, forcing them to apologize and remove the video.
According to the Shanghaiist, the young men were “hunted down by angry Dutch netizens” on Thursday and their families “bombarded by random threats.”
“My son is very sorry, he did not think through the consequences. They really did not want this,” one of the prankster’s mothers told the NL Times. “We receive calls from people who swear at us. Even grandma received calls.”
Unlike the baby powder used on their victims, which comes out rather easily after a few paddings, the stain and stench of filming racist attack videos, then having your mother apologize on your behalf, are not likely to wash out anytime soon for Vatos Locos.
