The Ice Bucket challenge has swept the world of social media like a plague of locusts through a cornfield. The basic premise being that you video yourself either throwing or someone else throwing, a bucket of ice water over your head. You then ‘nominate’ others to do the same. This is done to raise awareness for charity or people donate to the charity.
There is some debate over which charity ‘owns’ the challenge, but my understanding is that it started in America with the ALS, a charity that help sufferers of Motor Neurone disease. Macmillan (a UK based nationwide hospice) have also joined the MNDA (the UK version of the ALS) in being affiliated with the challenge. It was done by celebrities but has now swept everyday people and my Facebook feed is full of videos!
In theory, this whole viral social media based charity campaign does a world of good. It raises awareness for charities with people who may never have heard of the ALS and MNDA now fully aware of what they do. People are also donating to these great charities, which is a great thing.
However, there is a murkier side to the whole challenge. As I mentioned above, there is some debate over who the challenge ‘belongs’ too. Technically it doesn’t belong to one charity, but accusations have been flung the way of Macmillan for jumping on the bandwagon and stealing the limelight from lower profile charities who have used the challenge earlier. It can be noted that if you type ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’ into Google, the first result is a link to the Macmillan Ice Bucket challenge, which implies they have paid top dollar to ensure this number one search result. This is a shame as Macmillan are a fantastic charity and don’t really need to do that or even be involved in the challenge.
The ALS have also allegedly got links to animal testing with Pamela Anderson being the highest profile person to refuse the challenge.
It is also coursing harassment issues and at its worst cyber-bullying, with those not taking part after being nominated being made to feel guilty or boring. My wife turned down a challenge due to the animal testing links and was swore at on Facebook after explaining her reasons. For the record, me and my wife donate monthly to the NSPCC (A charity helping protect children from abuse). We also sponsor people where we can with a recent example being for a charity helping parents who are grieving due to a stillborn baby - a woman in our running club ran ten lots of ten kilometer laps at the Thunder Run 24hour event. How people choose to donate to charities and what charities they donate to, is their own personal choice. They shouldn’t be dictated too.
Finally, the Challenge is clearly a bandwagon. Its snowballed to the point that the original reasons for starting it have been diluted. People are now doing it purely for a bit of fun, enjoying nominating people to ‘wind them up’. If you say no, you are boring or too serious. Some people are introverts, others are extroverts, and the introverts may just feel awkward and uncomfortable taking part. Everybody has fun in different and varying ways. I find watching my 11 month old boy eating spaghetti hilarious. Others may see it as being silly.
People struggling in drought hit countries, may view the throwing of precious water over oneself/someone as being a waste of something they are in desperate need of.
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