The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
Critics are throwing
cold water over the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, but there’s something to be
learnt from the viral video campaign that’s made more than a splash using
social media.
Just
when I thought I might have got away with it, when the whole craze looked ready
to combust, it finally happened. I was nominated to do the Ice Bucket
Challenge. Meaning: you can now expect
me to dump icy cold water over my head, film it, and post it up on my social
media with an nifty hashtag #icebucketchallenge or #MND for your viewing pleasure.
More
importantly, it will hopefully add to the chain and bring that little bit more attention
to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Motor Neuron Disease in the UK. As a progressive neurodegenerative
disease, ALS/MND leaves many sufferers completely paralysed, incapable of
feeding themselves and eventually unable to breath on their own. It is a truly
devastating condition and whilst it affects relatively few people, only half of
those diagnosed survive the first three years and only 10% the first ten. Dumping
ice water on our heads is meant to remind us of the paralysing effects of the
disease as the cold instigates a similar albeit much, much smaller and short-lived physiological response.
Anyone
paying attention will have followed the challenge’s tidal sweep. Gaining
momentum after personalities from US show, Morning
Drive, took part live-on air, the campaign quickly earned massive celebrity
shout-outs from Jimmy Fallon, Will Smith, Victoria Beckham and Benedict
Cumberbatch (dowsed five times in his video).
Oh my days
Benny :') Benedict Cumberbatch Ice Bucket Challenge http://t.co/t4FA3Skpgv
—
The Doctors Bow Tie. (@Whovian_96) August
27, 2014
After
that it rolled over to everyone else, hopping the Atlantic with a
conspiratorial wink, encouraging social media uses worldwide to take part,
donate and nominate. It’s definitely
made more than a splash. It’s swept across the globe in a tsnami of chilly, damp
munificence.
Since
becoming a social media phenomenon around three weeks ago the ALS Association
has raised nearly £50 million (circa USD$80 million), roughly 500% more than it
raised in the same period last year. It’s become so popular Macmillan Cancer
Care and other charities have attempted to appropriate the campaign for
themselves, to varying degrees of success. As Dan Diamond wrote in Forbes, ‘the #ALSIceBucketChallenge—is
everywhere. It’s annoying. But it’s working.’
However,
as Diamond notes, many are growing tired of seeing the same videos over and
over, those taking part have been accused of flagrant self-promotion rather
than charitableness (aka: Slacktivism), and recently there’s been a sense of
internet one-upmanship that has not always ended well. It’s no longer enough to simply toss water
over your head and shudder at the cold, now it’s necessary to endure several
bucket loads, maybe even a forklift full – or an aeroplane – in order to gain
the respect of your online buddies. The challenge itself should not be
dangerous, and the number of funny, incredibly honest ‘fail’ videos could
probably generate an entire episode of You’ve
Been Framed but some people really have taken it too far. Reckless
behaviour has allegedly been linked to the hospitalisation of one man and the death of a teenager in Inverkeithin, Fife. Part
of the issue seems to be the peer-pressurised element of the Ice Bucket
Challenge. Once you have been nominated, not performing can lead to criticism
and even online abuse from ‘friends’ and followers.
Moreover,
one of the risks is that the longer the campaign thrives, the more likely it
seems to generate negative attention. The Guardian commented on this by
suggesting that the social media that birthed the craze could also
kill it. After all, there’s #droughtshaming to remind you that in places like
Henan, China and California ‘taps have dried up, lakes and reservoirs are
emptying and water wastage is being fined’. Plus some celebrities are refusing
the challenge on ethical grounds. Pamela Anderson’s decision to forego
the challenge because of reported medical testing on animals has
already generated a following. The question of how much money is actually spent
on salaries and publicity instead of research has similarly become a point of
contention.
People in
drought-hit Henan do 'empty bucket challenge' instead of #IceBucketChallenge
http://t.co/sQTWpE7PTs
pic.twitter.com/MVcEgYbMMc
—
China.org.cn (@chinaorgcn) August
23, 2014
But
as we’ve already noted, the death knell could sound in the form of accidents
and fatal injuries. Becoming associated with deaths and foolhardy egoism was
the beginning of the end for Neknominate, which required participants to down
alcohol and led to five UK deaths. As more become disillusioned with the plethora
of soggy friends posting their videos the more likely it is for the negative
press to take over the positivity and humour that has largely dominated thus
far. Yet even Neknominate led to a more positive counter-campaign:
‘Donate-Nominate’, which asked participants to leave the beer and donate blood instead. It
seems people want to use social media for good causes, even when posturing
attempts to subvert it. Perhaps this is what we are seeing when people react against the participants who
fail to mention the charity or cause.
Viral
chains and popular organisations are not new. Ever since the Civil Rights
Movement contemporary media (in particular television and radio) has been used
to emphasise mass protests and popular causes. In 1986, Hands Across America instigated a benefit event in which 6.5
million people held hands in a human chain across the continental US. And in
1989, 2million people created a ‘Chain of
Freedom’ across 600km to draw attention to the popular vision of Baltic
independence from the USSR. With so many
involved, these human chains symbolised unity within a nation, gained
international attention and like the Ice Bucket Challenge, emphasised the power
of mass communication when the message was both emotionally captivating and
visually stunning. The ALS Challenge may not be ‘emotional’ or ‘stunning’ per
se, but it does tap into the desire to be part of a larger cause and there has
certainly been some heart-wrenching content mixed in with the humorous and
downright hilarious.
This hilarious,
heartbreaking #ALSIceBucketChallenge
is a reminder of what the craze is all about http://t.co/VVXO3wq5EM
—
BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) August
21, 2014
What
is poignant, is that it has appropriated Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to
generate the perfect media storm. To make a disease and its charity personal as
well as global.
The
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has done everything right. Timed perfectly to coincide
with summer sunshine, it took a niche plight, mixed in some celebrities (which
led to more A-listers than probably ever anticipated), made it a personal
challenge that everyone could interact and engage with and they kept it simple.
They let it grow and take on a life of its own and here we are in the present, wondering
where it might go next.
Whatever
the verdict, be it a health risk or a meaningful act of charity, I will tipping
a bucket over my head this evening.
Thank
you for the nomination.
Je serai poète et toi poésie,
SCRIBBLER