Ms. Burns is the villainess of "Manipulation", an online public service announcement for online safety education website B4UClick (release date August 9, 2016). She was the piano teacher of teenage girl Cynthia (the ad's protagonist), with the video opening with Ms. Burns complimenting Cynthia's progress.
As Cynthia prepared to leave, Ms. Burns informed her pupil that she had a photographer friend who was looking for models, and claimed that she believed she would be a good candidate. After Ms. Burns complimented her appearance, Cynthia agreed to try out, with Ms. Burns assuring Cynthia that her parents were busy and didn't have to be bothered about the arrangement.
But as revealed in interview-style confessions from Ms. Burns, her encouraging demeanor was really a mask for her true nature as a child pornographer, with Cynthia as her latest intended victim. Ms. Burns' heel persona was established in her first interview, where she boasted about how she'd manipulated Cynthia into trusting her. Later on, Ms. Burns texted Cynthia, claiming the "photographer" was excited about her and wanted sample photos of her. Cynthia agreed, and Ms. Burns then requested her to take photos in shorts or a skirt, detailing in her next confessional that she was using small requests to get the photos she needed without scaring Cynthia off.
Later on, Ms. Burns texted Cynthia that the next thing the photographer needed was swimwear photos, encouraging her that "less was more". As she was sending Cynthia those requests, Ms. Burns was shown looking through photographs of other girls she'd convinced to take photos for her, revealing herself as a serial child pornographer. In her last confessional, the evil Ms. Burns cited that she would do what she was doing again, callously claiming that it wasn't her fault her victims believed her manipulations. But as Cynthia prepared to change into her swimwear, she began to feel uneasy about her arrangement with Ms. Burns and contacted B4UClick to report her. The video ended with Ms. Burns in her house as police sirens could be heard from outside, suggesting that Ms. Burns was arrested (off-screen).
Quotes[]
- "She said if I thought she could pull it off, that she was willing to give it a try. And there, I knew she trusted me, even a little. And that was key." (Ms. Burns detailing how she'd manipulated Cynthia into trusting her)
- "Would I do it again? Probably. I mean, it's not my fault these kids fall for it." (Ms. Burns' callous outlook on her crimes)
