The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

By Johanne Margarette R. Macob

THE ALS Association defined, “Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord… With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.”

Personally, I didn’t know anything about ALS until the ice bucket challenge was hyped on the social media and other platforms and until it became a topic in our discussion in our online class. And from a practical perspective, I shared my thoughts that there are at least four factors that contributed to the ‘success’ of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: the Challenge, the Cause, the People, and the Media.

Challenge. What I think made the challenge viral is the fact that it is undemanding. A bucket of ice is a simple stuff anyone can easily find. Then, the mechanics of the challenge is likewise simple. You just have to nominate other people to the challenge as well, and then pour that bucket of ice water on yourself. It just takes a few moments, and there, you’ve conquered that worldwide challenge.

Cause. The second factor is that people are innately soft-hearted. This is the reason why benefit concerts, relief operations, garage sale for a cause, and anything else with “a cause” get acceptance from many people, most if not all of the time. The distinction from doing something just because you want to, from doing something because you think you have to (as it would help others) is apparent in people’s judgment. People have accepted it isn’t just any ice bucket challenge.  “It is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, so, I must take the challenge.”

People. I would also give credit to the personalities who got themselves involved – everyone, and special mention to the celebrities people who took on the challenge. These people have followers. These people have influence, that power of influence which they intentionally or unintentionally use to draw more people to emulate their deed, or at least, to share what they just did. We could see the domino effect here. As the number of celebrities, politicians, businessmen, etc. who took the challenge increases, its popularity levers up, as well. Note: anyone who takes on the challenge, challenges others and more often than not, the challenge gets accepted, and so on and so forth.

Media. I think this last factor is self-explanatory. Of course, without the media- the social media and the traditional media-  its level of awareness today would’ve been close to impossible. I, myself, have seen a lot of Facebook and Instagram posts and shares of known people doing the challenge. Alongside this social media campaign are the press and broadcast personalities featuring the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the ‘people’ doing the challenge or getting challenged to do the same.

P.S. I really hope the $100-million donations generated from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge will be properly used, and that the research will lead to the prevention and cure of ALS the soonest possible time. And, that after this, perhaps another “challenge for a cause” will come up and will be supported as well.

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