How is this cruelty "funny?"

My grandson loves "Hello Kitty" Also, I must agree with Miss_Led...thinking this sort of thing is funny is ridiculous.

This isn't funny; it's bullying (with a side of sexism)

I don't think it's funny either. Rather an example of adultism. It's not as cruel as the "I ate all your Halloween-candy-prank" Jimmy Kimmel asked parents to play on their kids, but still very mean. Apart from that, the girls at about 1:36 seem just as upset about getting boy's things as the boy is about getting girl's things. So that can't really count as an example of androcentrism. 

Watching the boy at 4:05 cry in dismay and disbelief at his ponies made me realize that there is probably such a thing as "too young to be a brony." Those ponies are highly valued by many adult men right now and are, if not symbols of the outright rejection of gender boundaries, at least symbols of these men's defiance against them. But to rebel, you have to have first been indoctrinated. This boy, at an age where indoctrination is experienced most intensely, is probably not capable of such transgression because gender lines are still settling into place for him. In about ten years, maybe he can begin appreciating the wonderfulness that is Twilight Sparkle. ;)

I didn't find this or his Halloween thing urging parents to say they ate all their kids' candy funny.  It's mean.  These are real kids, who could really be embarrassed by these thoughtless videos.  With respect to the boys' "internalization of androcentrism"--this isn't a test of that, it's a reinforcement of it because the parent is deliberately trying to humiliate the kid and the kid knows it.  The choice of the gender nonconforming toy as a horrible gift is a statement about the parents' androcentrism more than the kids.'  Ugh.

Wow....these kids' reactions speak to some really bad parenting skills...

Normally I agree with a lot of the commenters here but this time, calling this "cruel" is just too much.  Different people have different senses of humor, and there is no abuse going on.  These parents are playing a practical joke on their kids, and there is nothing wrong with that. 

I thought this one WAS funny, honestly.  The Halloween videos seemed pretty cruel, because watching kids throwing tantrums isn't funny to me, and mocking them will upset them more.  It was also about taking something away from the kids that they already owned.  Aside from the boy who got the hello kitty shirt and the girl who got the onion, these kids seemed annoyed and confused, but not distraught.  The girl who got the banana was downright hilarious.  The video regarding the hello kitty shirt was bothersome for both reasons though: it seemed cruel to laugh at a kid throwing a tantrum, and he's throwing a tantrum because he got something with a pink cat on it.

I'm disturbed by the fact that the little girl with the pink bow looks like she's wearing a full face of makeup.  She looks like she's only 7 or 8.

but most importantly.. most of these kids are brats..

(not all) but most
especially that kid carrying on about the hello kitty shirt. 'i hate you all.'? how about you get nothing at all next year.

Could a warning be added to the title or intro re the swearing at the end? I was watching this with my kids nearby and considered calling them over to watch as I thought they may find it funny and the offensive language was not expected.

I'm so glad Sociological Images commented on the kids throwing fits over getting gifts that are functional but insulting to their senses of masculinity and femininity. It was what stuck out most to me while watching it (oh, and the fact that some of those kids got a little out of hand!)

I think it is a pretty hilarious prank.

I'm sure I'd feel a bit miserable too if I was in these kids' position but come on, this is not abuse. I don't think these parents have ruined their kids' lives or Christmas by playing a little prank on them. However, having horrible manners is going to affect their lives and do them harm in the future...

There's a difference between getting a rotten banana or a half-eaten sandwich or a broken toy and getting a totally functional gift that you happen not to like.  I used to get awful presents from my grandmother--age-inappropriate, never to my taste--and I smiled and said thank you and did not complain in the hearing of the giver.  Ever.  The proper reaction to a banana as a gift (assuming the giver is not actually suffering from dementia) is to laugh and enjoy the joke.  A kid throwing a tantrum because he got Hello Kitty stuff is a problem--both because it means he's already learning that feminine = inferior and because he has no manners.  

I thought this was going to be commentary about how kids understand the "rules" of gift-giving generally and a fascinating discussion of what makes a gift "good" vs "bad" or even just inappropriate vs. inappropriate.  Instead it slid straight into the fish-barrel of androcentrism.  Disappointing!

It’s incredible how entitled and disrespectful some of those kids are. I wouldn’t dare to speak to my parents like that.

My father was terribly emotionally abusive. When I was a kid, he thought it would be a funny prank to wake my sister and I up in the morning by telling us our bunk bed was going to collapse and we had to get out of it right away. We were really confused and when my sister figured out we were being tricked, she burst into tears. You know why? Because we did not trust him, and this joke was not funny, it was weird, it was him being mean, as he was always being mean. And of course his standard response was, "Oh come on, it's just a little joke."

That's what I think of when I look at this video.