Why Are Celebrities Dumping Buckets Of Ice Water On Themselves?
We take a cold, hard look at this new trend.
By Darian Goh — 14 Aug 2014, 06:05 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Recently, a new trend has been circulating the Internet where people douse themselves with buckets of ice water
The trend has gotten so viral that celebrities like Justin Timberlake joined in on the act
In the last two weeks, the Ice Bucket Challenge has quite literally “soaked” the nation. Everyone from Ethel Kennedy to Justin Timberlake has poured a bucket of ice water over his or her head and challenged others do the same or make a donation to fight ALS within twenty-four hours.
alsa.orgOther notable personalities such as Jimmy Fallon and Adam Levine also uploaded their versions shortly after
The trend is called the Ice Bucket Challenge, where one nominates a few friends before throwing a 'baldi' of ice cold water over their heads
The challenge involves people getting doused with buckets of ice water on video, posting that video to social media, then nominating others to do the same, all in an effort to raise ALS awareness. Those who refuse to take the challenge are asked to make a donation to the ALS charity of their choice.
time.com
So what's with the challenge? Here’s how it works: Grab your camera and fill up a bucket of ice water. (No cheating—make it big!) Tell everyone about the cause and challenge a few friends to take the plunge—if they opt out, they donate $100. Then it’s time to get down to business. After you’ve dried off, post the video on all of your social media accounts with a link to donate. Easy, right?
The challenge originated from a college in Boston to raise awareness for Pete Frates, a former athlete that suffers from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, a viral movement to raise awareness of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, has spread like wildfire after originating at Boston College.
streetwise.coThe #IceBucketChallenge was started by Peter Frates, a former center fielder and captain for the Boston College baseball team who was diagnosed with ALS. The 29-year-old and his family have made it their mission to not only keep their spirits high, but also spread the word about the disease and what they're doing to help find a cure.
A person suffering from ALS loses the ability to control their muscle movement and may succumb to total paralysis at later stages of the disease
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.
alsa.orgSo, what exactly is ALS? Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, sometimes called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a rapidly progressive, fatal neurological disease that attacks the nerve cells responsible for controlling voluntary muscles. In basic terms, the brain stops sending signals to the muscles, which causes them to waste away.
Thanks to the attention and the virality of the trend, the ALS Association has seen an increase of donations compared to previous years
Between July 29 and today, August 12, The ALS Association and its 38 chapters have received an astonishing $4 million in donations compared to $1.12 million during the same time period last year. The ALS Association is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support from those people who have been doused, made a donation, or both. Contributions further The Association’s mission to find a cure for ALS while funding the highest quality of care for people living with the disease.
alsa.orgSo far, the cycle of bucket-dumping has raised $2.3 million for the ALS association since July 29, an amount that dwarfs the paltry $25,000 raised during the same time period last year. As of this week, more than 71,000 donors have done the challenge, meaning at least 71,000 buckets of ice and water sloshed over people's heads.
thewire.com
Despite that, some have called on people to do more than 'hashtag activism', suggesting that future trends be structured better
Yet, it's important to remember such campaigns are more than just, well, campaigns. When hashtag activism takes hold, they usually do little to effect real change (think #Kony2012, for instance), and TIME's Jacob Davidson warns of getting carried away with simply dumping ice water over people's heads while ignoring the debilitating disease, even if it's raising millions for the ALS Association.
thewire.com
But here’s where my argument breaks down. Problematic elements aside, the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised $2.3 million since July 29th. That money will go towards treating people just like my father, and maybe one day, finding a cure. So do the ends justify the means?
time.com
Articles like this one, reductively titled “Stop hating on the ice bucket challenge — it’s raised millions of dollars for charity,” miss the point. In an age where hashtag activism and information-free awareness campaigns are becoming more and more common, we should be very conscious of how to make viral trends as useful as possible.
time.com