It’s been a while since I posted an article in my world-famous Misleading Headline category but that all changes today! This particular Misleading Headline involves a Bowling Date and Tik-Tok so what can possibly go wrong?

The headline indicates a woman disliked the fact a man took her on a bowling date where he brought his own ball. The Tik-Tok video is getting a huge number of hits and Rachel Kiley of the Daily Dot wrote this article presumably because of that.

The Misleading Bowling Date

The problem is that it’s a joke story. The woman who posted the original Tik-Tok is actually dating the fellow shown bowling and she fully supports him bringing his own ball on the date. Lexa (@.alexa.nicole) apparently saw a similar video on Tik-Tok which garnered a lot of views and decided, apparently rightfully, that imitation of success is a good thing.

Lexa points out that people need to be careful about believing everything they view in a short video. She’s certainly right about that although it’s clear, in my opinion, she posted the video in order to get views. That all being said, my problem here isn’t with Lexa, it’s with the headline writer at the Daily Dot.

Why the Headline is Misleading

The big problem is the writer of the story mentions quite clearly the bowling date Tik-Tok is a fake. The headline writer chose to ignore this and present a click-bait Misleading Headline. Presumably in order to capitalize on Lexa’s video which capitalized on the original Tik-Tok.

So, some other Tik-Toker posted a fake video giving Lexa the idea to post a fake video which inspired the Daily Dot to write a fake headline promoting the copied faked video from the original faked video. Head fully spun yet?

Conclusion

I don’t necessarily think posting a video designed to deceive is a bad idea. As long as you clearly state this as the intent. Don’t believe what you see. Personally, I don’t think this is a great way to illustrate the point but I can’t deny it is moderately effective.

However, the Daily Dot is clearly trying to capitalize with their fake headline about the Bowling Date and thus they win my Misleading Headline Prize. Congratulations and by that I mean: Shame!

Tom Liberman