What do you get when you combine water, a bucket, ice and a momentous number of celebrities? Well, if you don’t know the answer to that question then all I can say is that you should probably come out from under that massive rock you’ve clearly been under for the last month or so. (Actually that also means you’ve missed the GBBO bin-gate fiasco and a soggy Monday at Notting Hill Carnival, so maybe just stay in there and wait for this all to blow over.)
Anyway, as I was saying, the #IceBucketChallenge (I’ll be dropping the hash-tag from here on in) is a social media phenomenon. And, because I know that phrase is thrown around willy-nilly, here are just a few figures to prove it. Since it took off in early August, the UK Motor Neurone Disease Association has received £2.7million in donations, 546,553 people have visited their JustGiving page, they have 6,000 more Twitter followers and have got 17,000 new likes on Facebook. Phew. And then there’s of course the endless list of celebrities who have taken part: Kate Moss, the Beckhams, Ricky Gervais, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch – and those are just the Brits. Americans have taken to the campaign like ducks to water (sorry not sorry about the pun). The Ice Bucket Challenge has gone well and truly international.
One man – who will remain nameless – told me in no uncertain terms that 'I haven’t done it yet and if I do I probably won’t donate'
But new research from Voucher Codes Pro revealed that over 50 per cent of Brits didn’t donate after getting involved in the icy challenge and that over half also don’t know what it’s all for. Is our lemming mentality on social media really so great that we're all dumping buckets of icy water over our head for… well, for nothing?
READ MORE: 18 Reasons We're Still Watching Celebrities Pouring Icy Water On Their Heads
'I got nominated, and I was a bit hungover at the time, so I just ended up doing it really,' 26-year-old Marus tells me when I ask why he took on the challenge. And have you donated? 'Er, I hadn’t paid. But you’ve guilt-tripped me into doing it now.' (I then receive a screenshot, confirming he had indeed paid £5 to MND). Doug, another guy I spoke to explained: 'I personally wish I hadn't done it as from the start it occurred to me the amount of water was being wasted, when there are thousands of people who don’t have clean water. I tried to think of using something else instead of water but decided to use water and ice and donate to a water charity instead.'
Arthur, another guy I spoke to had more reason than most to take part. 'My father’s best friend died from MND so yes, I definitely know about the disease,' he says when I ask if he understood what the reason behind his bucket challenge was. 'I mean sure it can be superficial, everyone doing it and putting it online, but at least things like this get people involved with charity work, or at least encourages them to give money.'
But for every person who does their homework on MND and actually gives some money as well, there are those that don’t. One man – who will remain nameless – told me in no uncertain terms that 'I haven’t done it yet and if I do I probably won’t donate,' before helpfully going on to confide: 'I'm gonna put ice up my ass for awareness for people with cancer who cannot get erections as that helps. True story.' Oh.
Lizzie, who works for a charity supporting an orphanage in Malawi, is aware of the limitations of the Ice Bucket Challenge. 'Campaigns like this and the #NoMakeUpSelfie tap into this online community and create a sense of togetherness and proactivity. However, my personal issue with social media as a whole is that liking or commenting a status or video online is mistaking support for action.'
And as psychologist Ben Voyer from LSE points out people's motivation for joining the Ice Bucket Challenge may have been very different from when they normally donate to charities. 'Whereas people give to charities because they empathise and/or identify with the victims of the cause, or to obtain a positive self-image,' he says. 'Joining a social media campaign is more about belonging to a group/community. People look for social acceptance, shared emotions and recognition.' None of this is a bad thing, per se, but should we be dressing it up as charity?
Individuals will inevitably become bored and lose interest in constant campaigns and neverending videos/selfies/gags in their newsfeeds
Lizzie also points out that viral campaigns like Ice Bucket Challenge eventually reach a saturation point. 'As more and more charities begin to employ this tactic, individuals will inevitably become bored and lose interest in constant campaigns and neverending videos/selfies/gags in their newsfeeds.' And, as we are all well, if there’s one thing the internet is good at, it’s providing rich feeding ground for critics and trolls. Indeed, it’s hardly surprising that the bucket backlash seems to have begun. Gaza has begun the #RubbleBucketChallenge, making use of the rocks and debris left behind from Israeli air strikes and India has begun the Rice Bucket Challenge in which people simply donate a bucket of rice to a local person in need.
Equally, as #NoIceBucketChallenge has begun to trend on Twitter, critics are arguing that the global attention on ALS Association and the UK Motor Neurone Disease Association will have a negative impact on other charities. 'Because people on average are limited in how much they’re willing to donate to good causes, if someone donates $100 to the ALS Association, he or she will likely donate less to other charities,' William MacAskill, a research associate at Oxford University and founder of two non-profit organisations, is reported to have written in Quartz.
READ MORE: We Asked Women Who'd Been Through Cancer What They Think Of The BareFacedSelfie Campaign
As of last Wednesday, there were 653,000 Ice Bucket Challenge videos on YouTube, and 572,537 people have liked the Ice Bucket Challenge pages on Facebook. Those who ‘like’ it are asked to take the challenge. Assuming they did, and adding on the YouTube videos, that’s 1,225,537 people. If they all made the suggested donation of $100, they would be $122,553,700 donated. Even better, if they’d signed up to do a monthly $10 direct debit, that figure would be even higher over the course of the year.
Posting a selfie, or uploading a video is hardly an arduous task, so it’s what you do after that that matters.
But ALS reported that $88 million had been raised in that time – that's a shortfall of $40 million – proving the gulf between support and action can be a huge one.
Critics are now also asking how the ALS plans to spend the money, after news emerged that it spent only 28 per cent on research into the disease last year – an amount that's been cited as too little. A spokesperson for the organisation insists that the donations they've received in the last month will help fund more research – and that itself is only one part of their work, which also includes caring for people living with the disease and encouraging legislation that helps sufferers.
My issue has nothing to do with the cause – the level of attention and money that’s been raised for MND is staggering, and beyond anything they would have achieved with the Bucket Challenge. But what is concerning is how flippant and fleeting these charity campaigns can be. Posting a selfie, or uploading a video is hardly an arduous task, so it’s what you do after that that matters.
'In the case of the Ice Bucket Challenge and other such social media campaigns, there is no denying the popularity of these campaigns,' concludes Lizzie. 'But is this due to wishing to emulate others and present yourself in a certain light, or do you actually have the desire to promote the cause at hand?'
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.