‘Knife party!’ The wild documentary showing four-year-olds can buy weapons on Amazon

On a beautiful autumn day, I'm searching for urine bottles in the bushes. I came across my first discovery - a Lucozade bottle filled with liquid that looks like honey. Meanwhile, Oobah Butler calls me from New York to share his discovery - a bottle of urine. He shows me via video that the urine has changed color due to the loss of oxygen, and describes the color as similar to that of a soy sauce sachet.

Over the past two years, Butler has gained extensive knowledge in the field of urine. He is a former presenter from Catfish UK who is most known for the comedic pranks he creates in partnership with Vice. One of his most famous pranks involved turning the shed where he lived in south London into a highly-rated restaurant by manipulating TripAdvisor's algorithm, which has resulted in him being recognized frequently in public. This week, he is expanding his horizons through his first Channel 4 special, The Great Amazon Heist. The show takes his humorous and daring style of pranking and applies it to a bigger issue involving Amazon, the world's largest retailer. It explores the human cost of running a one-day delivery service that many individuals feel guilty for using but still use regularly. Through legal tactics, undercover work, and mocking Jeff Bezos, Butler sheds light on important considerations surrounding Amazon's practices.

"I've found more of them over here - in fact, there's an entire bag full," he says to me. "I don't have the time to go through all of that." The Great Amazon Heist began as a modest concept of demonstrating against the amount of taxes paid by Amazon by exploiting a flaw in its returns process. However, as Butler spent more time studying the corporation (even going undercover at its Coventry distribution center), he realized that he had to confront it more forcefully than just manipulating returns.

During his three-day undercover mission, he observed workers suffering from sore feet due to standing for prolonged periods and a dehumanizing monitoring system. He also spent one afternoon loading a van in oppressive heat without proper ventilation. However, Amazon denies these accusations about suboptimal working conditions stating that their employees' safety and well-being are their priority. He also discovered that drivers worked for extended hours with strict targets, leading them to use empty bottles as toilets. The company imposes a penalty on anyone found with urine bottles in their delivery vans, increasing the risk of workers being fired. Hence, these bottles are often dumped outside Amazon facilities, just like the ones they are searching for in Bromley by Bow. While filming his next movie in Queens, Butler searched for bottles and found eight to his competition's three, saying, "Look, I see another bottle," pointing his camera to help me spot it shimmering in the sunlight while adding, "This one's dubbed the 'Edinburgh festival cider'."

It's strange that when filming began, Butler still frequently used Amazon. One day, he was discussing his Amazon usage with his German teacher, who called him out for being a hypocrite. although he felt defensive at the time, he reflected on her words afterwards. He then disguised himself with brown hair and glasses and took on the pseudonym 'Paul' for his undercover work at a distribution center in Coventry where he worked for two and a half shifts. It was at the distribution center that he observed the poor working conditions and vowed to stop using Amazon. During one incident at the center, he tried to check his phone and was told that he could lose his job if he continued to do so. Interestingly, Butler was hired during a period of upheaval at the company when long-term employees were organizing to unionize amidst an influx of temporary, student hires. Unusually, Butler and one other employee weren't hired as part of the temporary, student contract, and were present during the height of the unionization efforts. Reflecting on the experience, Butler felt a conflicting mixture of amusement and guilt. While he was using the film to educate people, he recognized that the issues were serious, and the people involved were living real lives. Through comedy and stunts in his films, he hopes to draw attention to important issues that many people have ignored.

The new film has a scene that might pique the interest of those who have lost interest in Amazon. In the scene, Butler enlists his two young nieces to buy knives and gardening saws by shouting their order into an Alexa device. This amusing yet nerve-wracking moment is reminiscent of Oobah Butler's style. He admits that this scene has enormous implications for people and Amazon, and age verification is necessary. Butler equates the ability to buy things without verification to letting his nieces run wild in a store and take whatever they want. Amazon has enabled kids to do this, and it should be a cause for concern.

Catch The Great Amazon Heist airing on Channel 4 on the 19th of October at 10 in the evening.