The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was definitely one of the most popular and widely spread thing of 2014. The idea started with promoting awareness for the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) by people filming themselves dumping a bucket of ice cold water on their heads to encourage others to donate to the cause. People would pour ice cold water on their heads and then nominate others to respond to the challenge in 24 hours and donate. The videos went quickly viral and soon everybody was pouring water on their heads, some in the most creative or funny methods. Celebrities including Emma Stone, Jimmy Kimmel, Kim Kardashian, Kate Hudson, Matt Damon, Rihanna, Eminem and Chris Evans have accepted the challenge and even former president of United States George W. Bush.
The campaign was a success having more than 2.4 million tagged videos circulating Facebook and it inspired features for articles like “Top 10 Ice Bucket Challenge Fails” or “10 More of the Best Celebrity Takes on the Ice Bucket Challenge.” The English Wikipedia’s article on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis grew from an average of 163,300 views per month to 2.89 million views in August 2014 and it was reported that the ALS Association had received $100 million in total from July 29.
Social Media
Although at some point it was doubtable the reason for making such a video because of the large numbers of people that filmed themselves just for the fun of it or for their social media narcissism. Some of the celebrities have made longer videos to name-drop, to show off their vacations, their homes, or their humility, and some of them even advocate for their own organizations. Nonetheless the idea was a success, built up on the social media platform it caught up with people worldwide by the tagging and nominating that made it more personal and the videos were entertaining.