The Swim Reaper is an Instagram account with the tagline “Swim dumb and you’re done” that has already gained nearly 1000,000 followers by offering an insanely funny insight into the daily life of a Reaper who patrols the beaches of New Zealand waiting for things to go wrong. You’d never think of it, but the account is actually a very clever effort by Water Safety New Zealand, intended to help prevent water-related deaths, especially among young men, who account for a third of all fatal incidents annually in New Zealand.
According to Jonty Mills, CEO of Water Safety New Zealand, most of the drownings are preventable, but it’s really hard to get people to do things by the rules, so they needed a new method of educating them about making smarter decisions around water. And that’s when The Swim Reaper was born.
In the pictures, The Swim Reaper can be often seen sitting in a lifeguard chair and watching over beachgoers on a beautiful sunny day, which is an unexpectedly hilarious sight but it also slips a chilling subconscious alert about the risks of open water. Sounds hilariously morbid? It is!
Check out The Swim Reaper’s adventures in the gallery below!
