By Simon Wright – Follow
me on Twitter @Siwri88
It has become
the latest internet craze and it is raising money for causes that deserve it.
However, the Ice Bucket Challenge, which has seen actors & actresses,
musicians, TV personalities and sports stars raise awareness for ALS
(Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), is threatening to get out of control.
Questions are
starting to be raised about the point of the challenge and has it lost its
edge/purpose? I promote more background on the Ice Bucket craze and give my view on
the summer sensation online.
The idea
So, the Ice
Bucket Challenge does exactly what it says on the tin (excuse the pun). It
involves people dumping a bucket of ice over themselves, or being assisted in
this way by another member of a team, whether that is a family member,
relationship partner or work colleague (group pictured conducting the challenge below).
 |
| A group of people in Sunderland undertake the Ice Bucket Challenge |
The act has
to be filmed and the video is then posted online, usually onto social media
channels like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. The person doing the challenge
then usually nominates 3-5 people to do the same and give them a timeframe to
do the challenge, often between 24-48 hours.
Of course,
this isn’t something that should be done for fun or a pointless laugh. A
charitable donation has to be made to complete the challenge. In America, which
is where the craze got underway, it is often towards the ALS association,
whilst over here in the UK, the regular charity benefiting from this is the
Motor Neurone Disease Association.
It all sounds
simple, or does it?
Celebrity impact
The challenge
starting receiving impact in June this year, when personalities from a
breakfast programme in the US did the challenge live on-air.
The craze
then started to spread with donations being made and more celebrities being
nominated. Even Barack Obama and David Cameron were nominated to do the
challenge. Wisely, both declined and made just a donation instead. Whilst it
could be seen as a bit of good-humoured fun, could you imagine the amount of
flak that Cameron would get if he did this? Ed Miliband would have a field day
at PMQ’s!
Many other
famous faces or familiar names have done their bit though. They include the
likes of Susan Boyle, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Lewis Hamilton, Lady Gaga
and George W. Bush.
Even TV
characters have done it, including Kermit the Frog from the Muppets and Homer
Simpson from the Simpsons (video below of Homer’s challenge)
More recently, I’ve
seen my News Feed, especially on Facebook plastered with my friends and
colleagues doing the challenge and being nominated. The spread of this ‘bug’
has been massive.
Happy and sad endings
The main charity cause IBC has helped on these shores is the Motor Neurone Disease
Association. In my case, I do charity
donations anyway, and however small this can be, it makes me feel pleased to
be giving something back. Recently, the British Heart Foundation sent me a
letter to celebrate the first year anniversary of giving
money to their fight against heart disease on a monthly basis.
My donations are helping the British Heart Foundation fund groundbreaking heart medicine to save people lives. A case study of this was received as part of the letter I received last month. 18 months into her life, Lauren
Burns was diagnosed with a hole in her heart. She underwent major surgery and
when complications occurred from this, Lauren spent three months hooked up to a
life support machine, fighting for her life. Doctors gave her little hope of
survival, but nine years on, Lauren is walking, talking and behaving like many
girls of her age band. My donation is helping the BHF and allows more people like Lauren in the UK to come back from
the brink and live the quality of life they are today. It is these stories that
can have a happy ending.
More notably, Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham has been on a remarkable journey in the last three years with a cause close to her heart. In 1999, Natalie worked in an orphanage in Romania and developed a close bond with a young child, called Mirela. After a moving visit to find Mirela 12 years later, Natalie, with the help of her Grand Prix connections and the charity Hope & Homes for Children, set out to raise £200,000 to build a home for Mirela and her siblings. The story was followed in two moving documentaries for Channel 5. With Natalie’s determination and the
help of others, the target was achieved and Mirela and other children were able to move into their new home at the start of 2014. As the home can provide a decent quality of life, it gave Mirela a proper home she could grow up in.
Sadly in
early March, Mirela passed away from acute cardio-respiratory failure, just
four days after A Home for Mirela was screened on Channel 5. It was a sad
ending to an emotional and very moving journey.
Has IBC lost its edge?
The more
videos of the Ice Bucket Challenge go online, the more the craze continues but
it begs the question though, that despite the money being raised – has it lost
its edge?
There could
be a concern that some are doing the challenge and then not following up with a
promised donation. I hope that is not the case. There are no accusations being
made, but I’m sure there is the odd person who hasn’t thought too much about
why they are doing the IBC.
If you have
been nominated, I’d do it and make the donation. There are special cases and
like I mentioned earlier, the media would have a field day if the President of
the United States or our own PM did it when the world we live in is experiencing
plenty of worldwide conflict. There isn’t a law for not doing the challenge,
but at least make a donation if nominated.
There are
critics out there in regards to the Ice Bucket Challenge. The waste of water
has been mentioned. This is a very valid point, but if donations are being made
to various charities, not just the ones first benefiting, then I think it
cancels out this argument.
Also, some
have taken it too far, with reports of a bullying case in the United States
recently on a child who suffers from autism. The important thing about IBC is
not to take it seriously. It is a bit of light-hearted fun. At the end of the
day though, make sure to remember why you are doing it. You are doing it to
help other causes, not to make yourself look like a fool on YouTube and bask in
the limelight for it.
Like the no
make-up selfie in March, the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised awareness and that
is a good thing. I’m sure there will be something else of a groundbreaking
context that will sweep social media channels next year. It might be the way to
go in the future when it comes to regular donations.
However, the
power of the internet can also carry a poisonous edge to it. IBC is the
internet craze of the summer but it is starting to lose the ‘cool’ effect.
Maybe it is time to put this onto the scrapheap and think of something else. As
long as various charities are benefiting from these campaigns, it is good, but
it does need to remain fresh in the minds and not become a repetitive stunt.
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