YouTube social experiment shows just how easy it is to kidnap a child

Joey Salads convinced three children to come and 'see some more puppies' with him while their parents backs were turned

A young boy is tempted away from a playground by YouTube prankster Joey Salads as part of a social experiment (YouTube )

A social experiment on YouTube has shown just how easy it can be to abduct children in public.

The video shows a popular YouTube prankster, Joey Salads, armed with only a cute puppy approaching the parents of young children in a playground.

He asks them whether they think he will be able to persuade them to walk off with him.

The three mothers are adamant that their children will resist the offer because they are told “every day” not to talk to strangers.

After getting their permission he goes over to the child and asks them if they want to stroke his dog.

All of the three children agree and Salads persuades them to walk off with him.

"Over 700 children are abducted a day, that’s over a quarter a million a year – are your kids safe?” he says at the end of the video.

One mother scolds her son for going off with a stranger. “Just because you see somebody with a dog doesn’t mean you go home with them,” she tells her little boy.

The video has already had over half a million views and nearly 9,400 likes.

Salads has been invited to talk on US news shows about his “one share could save a life” campaign.