By Raymart Escopel
DURING the past weeks, the “Ice Bucket Challenge” has been making rounds on social media as people from different parts of the globe accepted the dare of pouring themselves with a bucket of ice cold water.
Ordinary people and even celebrities have responded to the challenge and posted on their social media accounts their videos of the “Ice Bucket Challenge.”
Among the famous celebrities and known personalities who proudly did the “Ice Bucket Challenge” were Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Lebron James and former US President George W. Bush.
The challenge is not only for fun, nor to show to the rest of the world that they can indeed survive the freezing water bath. It is also for a good cause as the “Ice Bucket Challenge” was created to promote awareness of the disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and to earn donations for the conduct of research about the disease. Indeed, the challenge has become an effective tool in achieving its purpose as people have become aware of ALS and they had donated for its research.
The rule of the challenge is simple. A person will post on his or her social media account his or her “Ice Bucket Challenge” video. After which, he or she will challenge another person. Within 24 hours, the person being challenged must also do the same thing in order to further spread the advocacy on ALS awareness and to gather more funds for donation. If the person challenged did not accept the dare, he or she must comply by donating to the cause.
Through the help of social media and the limitless power of the internet, people have become successful in terms of spreading the messages they want to relay and the advocacies that they are pushing. The “Ice Bucket Challenge” is one perfect example. It is indeed a different way of spreading awareness about ALS and it has earned support from people as thousands have now accepted the unique challenge./PN
