Have you seen this thing where people dump buckets of ice water over their head?
Well if not, I’m not quite sure how you’re reading this right now, because if you have an Internet connection you can’t ignore this explosively popular phenomenon.
What the hell is this all about?
When I first saw the ice bucket challenge, I had no idea what it was about.
The next time I saw it, I looked into it a bit further, and found out that it was about raising awareness and money for ALS.
The next time I saw it, I looked into the structure of the challenge itself, and saw that you could EITHER donate money, or dump ice water on your head, though I’m sure you could do both. Then you need to nominate others to do the same thing and make the same choice of making a video or donating money.
Then I started seeing this ice bucket challenge EVERYWHERE!
Cynicism about Hashtag Activism
It was at this point that I started to get annoyed.
The idea that you could get out of donating money by dumping water on your head in a video on Facebook bothered me. It bothered me because I felt like it was a waste.
Is that REALLY making a difference?
Is sending a tweet, clicking like, or making a video getting involved, or is it some narcissistic way of justifying taking any real action?
How about donating some money instead of just dumping some ice water on your head?
At the end of the day, if all that happened was a waste of water and ice, and a bunch of videos featuring people who don’t want to actually donate money to fix the problem, is anyone really better off? Have we made progress?
Where I got upset was thinking that this passive hashtag activism was pointless, narcissistic, and ineffective.
I got it wrong.
The point of this campaign was to raise awareness about a tragic disease that often goes unnoticed (See this article).
The second point of the campaign was to raise funds to support research and treatment.
Each individual person doing the challenge might annoy me, but that’s my own shit. Because the truth is, the aggregate of each person making these videos has brought unprecedented attention to ALS. Furthermore, the celebrity involvement and creativity of the videos has given this campaign a life of its own.
Beyond that even though a majority of the people taking the ice bucket challenge did NOT donate money, an enormous number of people did.
From a fundraising perspective, it has been wildly successful (more than $15.6 million has been raised so far). That’s more than 50x what ALS normally raises in August.
So many of the awareness building campaigns in social media stop at awareness, whereas the Ice Bucket Challenge has a clear call to action, and built in mechanisms to spread the word.
Do I find many of the videos boring and annoying? Absolutely. But I now have a profound respect for the entire campaign and its effectiveness.
When I was nominated…
My step brother David nominated me. I donated $100 and opted to pass on dumping ice water on my head.
Why?
Because I’d feel dirty doing anything less than something over-the-top and creative. Just dumping ice water on my head and nominating people doesn’t feel right to me, donating the money felt right. Sure, I could do both, and I might still make a video. But not until I’ve had the time to think of something unique.
So, in the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, a few of my favorites…
Or, any of these people: 22 People Who Should Have Definitely Not Taken The Ice Bucket Challenge