First of all I want to preface this by saying I am all for people supporting any and all charities of their choice. I have no grudge or issue with the ALS foundation. I fully support the idea of raising awareness of ALS and other terrible disabilities and diseases.

However, I have been watching my Facebook feed light up with video clip after video clip of friends and family taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and then nominating others to follow suit. The cause is just, some videos are cute and I am sure the impact to ALS is awesome. I have long dreaded the moment that my name would come up. Unfortunately last night my youngest brother, a TBM, called me out along with my other brothers to take the challenge.

So now all I have to do is “take the challenge”. Seems like a harmless thing to do, I know! As my brother says “the point of this challenge is to raise awareness to ALS”. I am told to have fun with the challenge, dump ice water on myself and then donate. There are some who would say, “Just Do It” Adamisfree2006. Come on, it's for a good cause. Just make a cute video! Follow the script! Tell everyone who nominated you! Nominate a few friends or family members! Add some personal comedic comments! Dump a little or a lot of cold water or bucket of ice on yourself. Post it on Facebook for everyone to see! Just Do It! Don’t think about any other deserving charities! This is for a great cause!

I am sorry, I did that once. I once stood in a Mormon temple and took out my own endowments. Because of peer pressure I raised my hands and chanted shit. I bowed my head and said "yes" to shit. I mimicked slitting my throat. I swore allegiance to an organization for ETERNITY without knowing what I was signing up for. I did it because my family was doing it. In fact, most everyone I knew was doing it so I did it too!

This feels way too Mormon to me! I do not want to be told that I must follow some rule that says I must raise awareness by doing X, Y and Z. I donate in a personal way through a number of organizations. I lean away from "larger charities" with big overheads and tend to give directly to individuals as needed. I am not concerned with tax deductions as I get screwed in taxes anyway.

I spent the first 40 years of my life donating my time, talents AND money to ONE SINGLE religion. After going through hell for one year during my exit from Mormonism, I vowed I would NEVER donate that much of anything to one charity or organization. If I do not stand my ground what happens when the "mormon" challenge comes along?

Cheers, Adam
PS. Please don’t think I am some scrooge. I really am a kind and giving person!

I completely understand. Just because someone nominates you to do something doesn't mean you have to as opposed to what the church
taught us.

I'm sick of this too. It's mostly peer pressure and trying to be cool that make people do it. I bet many people aren't even donating after dumping the buckets on their heads.

I have no interest in this ice bucket challenge either. I think my friends know me well enough to know I would politely decline if they challenged me.

If I want to donate to a charity, I will, but not because someone challenged me to do so.

I totally agree. I haven't been challenged, but if I am, I won't do it and I won't donate. ALS is an insidious disease and finding a cure is a worthy cause, but what about Alzheimer's? Cancer? Mental Illness? I give to causes that I choose for whatever reason I have in doing so, not because somebody has challenged me. Congrats to the people who donate and I wish the ALS Foundation all the best, but I'll pass.

I'm not a Scrooge, either. :-)

I don't understand how this works. You either donate $100 or dump icewater on yourself. Where is the money coming from if everyone chooses the latter? If I had zero choices, I'd go with the icewater because I don't have $100 to donate. Since I do have choices, my choice is neither. I will donate whatever I can to whatever charity I choose and I will not participate in having icewater dumped on me.

Do people who choose the icewater get to donate whatever they want? As if they don't have any choices otherwise? Plus get dumped with icewater?

This whole thing has gotten some legs. Julie Chen did the challenge on "Big Brother." I think it's a tool that has really pulled out some awareness to ALS, but I don't appreciate being dictated how much to give, let alone who to give to, plus the added benefit of agreeing to have a bucket of icewater dumped on you or "jailed" until you raise funds for "bail" or whatnot. I donate to whom I want, when I can, and in an amount that is feasible. Right now, I don't have much spare cash to work with. I have been donating old clothing, toys, and some school supplies I found dirt cheap (that are usually very expensive) and go from there.

I would just completely ignore the nomination and if it comes up, say I already donated (no need to expand on where and if it was to this charity or how much) and, no, you will not dump icewater on yourself.

ETA: I'm wondering about the Mormon group-think mentality and being thought poorly of, even shunning, for nonparticipation. After donating hundreds of dollars in mandatory tithing, now they feel strong-armed to participate in this donation challenge, and it's all about "I'M A MORMON!!!! See how wonderful we are?" And if you don't participate, you're going to get the sh!t from it. It's head-scratching.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 01:54PM by omreven.

A lot of celebrities are donating a ton of money. Charlie Sheen recorded himself dumping $10,000 over his head to donate instead of ice water.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 01:53PM by 48erhater.

Now the response has to be bigger, better and more over the top than others! I refuse to compete with celebrities or other attention getters.

It's super great when celebs participate in this sort of thing and also donate oodles of cash to boot, but what are they going to do? Say no? What if they'd rather donate 10K to autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease or some other lesser known disease? Donations should be private, not demanded and not put you in a place where you end up looking like an ass when you say no and choose not to participate.

I don't think the ice bucket challenge has anything to do with the charity at this point. It's just a fad that people are getting involved in to do fun, stupid, silly, crazy things because someone else is doing it and show it off on FB.

The only thing it brings awareness to is throwing ice water on people which many times goes terribly wrong!!

In So. Ca we are in an extreme drought.

The one time I saw someone in No. CA do it, at least, they were very, very conservative with the water and did it on the lawn. It was probably 100 F outside anyhow. Nice to cool off.

I don't for a minute think that everyone that does it donates $100 as some probably don't have two nickles to rub together but they do the water thing to "raise awareness"... which I think is ridiculous.

In an Extreme Drought, we have to cut back, use less, and hope we don't get into water rationing: no car washes, no swimming pools, minimum or no watering of lawns. We've lived through that in the past.
We saved and hauled water, reused bath water, etc.

A dear friend who is otherwise quite level-headed and reserved posted a video last night calling me and a few other friends out as she dumped a bucket of water over her head. It all seems so incongruous and bizarre to me. So, she took the challenge...should I assume she's not donating?

I've never been one to join in something just because "it's the thing to do" and to be quite frank I felt rather embarrassed for my friend's posting as to me it just comes across as just that. Look at me....I just can't get that out of my mind as the motivation.

Best life advice in situations like this "to thine own self be true". I won't be dumping water over my head anytime soon and posting it on FB.

just want to add my agreement to everything everyone else has said so far.

I do donate to charity - something which I started to do as a 'penance' for all the money I had handed over to the corporation.

I dont wish any ill will to the ALS charity, but I dont feel any affiliation with it, either.

And +1 to Adamisfree's comment about doing something you dont really feel comfortable with, simply because everyone else is doing it.

I'm with you. I'm dreading being called out. I'd rather stay under the radar for this one.

I also envision the larger fundraiser groups frantically discussing how they wish they'd come up with the ice bucket challenge and wondering what they can do with social media. The ice bucket challenge is just the beginning...which could be great for fundraisers, annoying for FB newsfeeds!

Some of you don't seem to realize what the 'rules' of the challenge are. You can either donate $100 to get out of dumping ice water on yourself, or you can donate a small amount ($5, $10, $20, etc) and dump the water. So, I would say most people ARE donating. As evidenced by the astronomical funds ALS has raised. They're just donating a reasonable amount, having fun, and cooling off in the heat at the same time.

For those who are worried about water conservation, where is the outrage for pools, watering lawns, long showers, washing cars, etc? It feels like a lot of people are looking for reasons to be negative, just because it's a viral social media scheme. Sure it's goofy. But who cares? People do all kinds of goofy things, at least this goofy thing is for a good cause

We all ought to be conserving water. I've lived through a drought in So. CA: no car washing,no pools, showers to be 3 minutes, required low flow toilets, low flow shower heads, save gray water, haul it for other uses.

Right now we are in an Extreme Drought in So. Ca. So far we are to cut back 20% or more, and hope we don't get to water rationing.

I don't think most people care about any rules. It's just a fun challenge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 02:21PM by SusieQ#1.

SusieQ#1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We all ought to be conserving water. I've lived
> through a drought in So. CA: no car washing,no
> pools, showers to be 3 minutes, required low flow
> toilets, low flow shower heads, save gray water,
> haul it for other uses.
>
> Right now we are in an Extreme Drought in So. Ca.
> So far we are to cut back 20% or more, and hope we
> don't get to water rationing.
>
> I don't think most people care about any rules.
> It's just a fun challenge.

As far as the 'rules' I was addressing the above posters who were confused on how it works. Clearly people ARE donating. The donations have been enormous. So people are doing good, not just dumping water on themselves.

Your drought is in So Cal. That doesn't mean the rest of the country is taking 3 min showers, or emptying their swimming pools, and not watering their lawns. Don't get mad at me for dumping water on my head, but then not care that I water my lawn daily for an hour (and just for the record, I'm merely using that as an example, I have done neither the challenge or watered my lawn, as my area of the country has had an extremely wet summer. I haven't even needed to water my hydrangeas, which has NEVER happened).
All I'm saying is people need to just RELAX and not get so uptight

Pokeyd25 Wrote:
> All I'm saying is people need to just RELAX and
> not get so uptight

Good thing you have done "my" thinking and told me how I should feel. Glad you are all chilled out. However, I think I will continue with mine if that's okay with you. You are definitely entitled to your opinion though...

Cheers, Adam

I am not uptight. Perfectly relaxed! :-)

I can't do any thinking for anyone else. That's absurd. We are just stating our opinions.

and I am not against this because of water conservation. I am not looking for reasons to be "negative". I don't care that it is viral on social media. So in your opinion this is a "goofy thing"? Cool, taken at face value it is. You are right I cannot argue that point. Just wait until the next "viral social media scheme" hits FB and you are against it! Will you be defending it or speaking out against it?

adamisfree2006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Just wait until
> the next "viral social media scheme" hits FB and
> you are against it! Will you be defending it or
> speaking out against it?

thats kind of an absurd thing to say. I am not "for" nor "against" any viral social media events. ever. (including this one). I am "for" donating money to a good cause, and i don't give a f*&^ that people are dumping water on themselves. they can or they can't. thats my point. who cares? its raising money. thats a good thing. I am "against" the hypocrisy and negativity I see amongst so many people. if you are not one of them, then I'm clearly not talking to YOU am i? so get over yourself.

when everyone changed their profile pictures to the equal sign, I didn't participate. But I also didn't write rants about why people should or shouldn't. basically, just live and let live, and let people have their fun. its not hurting you. ignore it if you're not into it.

If I get challenged and I'm sure I will be, I am going to write a check to whatever charity I want and be done.

ALS is not on my giving list. Not because I think it is a "unworthy", it just has not robbed my life of the things that cancer has. I would rather support a cure for a disease I have a genetic predisposition to.

Whatever. My stupid evil mean sister challenged me last night. So I just made a donation. I don't feel like triggering a Reynaud's attack by dumping ice cold water on myself. That's gonna be painful.

Let me know when we get to the "walk on hot coals" challenge for sufferers of Reynaud's Syndrome. Oh, what the hell, let's just raise money for autoimmune disorders. Who's with me?

Just read this, which makes the point that this is more about the trend than the disease. Go to the link to see the videos that are referenced.

---------------------------
https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140825130722-17914753-what-do-coca-cola-kim-kardashian-s-butt-and-the-ice-bucket-challenge-have-in-common?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Unless you've lived under a rock - surely you've seen people dumping buckets of ice water over their heads to raise awareness for ALS. The campaign has been remarkably effective - it's raised 38 million dollars thus far.

Think about the campaign - what's it really about?

I didn't really come to the conclusion until I saw this status post: "How come no one will challenge me to the #icebucketchallenge - I guess I'm not popular."

I thought - what? If this guy wanted to help ALS - he could just write a check. But that's not what this campaign is about.

Instead it's about this:

And not to pick on my friend Scott Monty, but clearly then there the genre of the "anti-Ice Bucket" videos - where people talk about how they're donating instead of ice-bucketing (Scott's was by far the best done and the most genuine I think):

All of these videos, and more, are all about the individual. Yes, ALS benefits. Yes, ALS has raised a ton of money. But in the end, every one of these videos - the celebrity ones, the not-so-celebrity ones, are all about the people. I challenge so and so. I got challenged. See how cool I am, I was challenged. I'm so cool, I didn't even do the ice bucket thing - I did something else. I'm so nuts, I had the icebucket fall on my head and almost kill me.

It's voyeuristic. We even have now the Ice Bucket Challenge Fails:

The interesting thing about this one - Kermit challenged Ricky Gervais - who replied "FFS, I've already done it." (FFS - in internetspeak is "for f*cks sake".)

It's a little club. See I get to challenge Steven Spielberg, because I'm cool - I'm Oprah. And I challenged so and so...

For those of you old enough to remember, the king of the name droppers was probably Dick Cavett. This is basically the Dick Cavett of marketing - people can hardly fall over themselves fast enough to dump water over their heads to be part of the club of the cool kids who know people and who got challenged.

This isn't a societal critique of it - but rather to point out - the entire event is invidiualistically oriented. The challenges are made by individuals. The filming, etc., it's all voyeuristic. Essentially, this is a super bowl ad combined with Truman Capote's "I like to watch."

The entire campaign is set from the individual's perspective. What they gain, how to spread it, how to disseminate the message.

Imagine if as an agency I pitched this to a client. Ok, here's the deal, instead of buying media, doing a commercial, etc., what we're going to do is demand that people dump ice water over their heads, and challenge their friends to do that too, and put it up on Facebook, and YouTube, and Twitter. Then, they'll be shamed enough either to do the stunt, in which case we get free publicity, or to cut us a check.

I'm pretty sure they'd have laughed me out of the room. That's not how agencies think. Maybe they SHOULD think that way - but that's not how they generally think.

Eventually all this silliness will end. Like a virus - either everyone will wind up challenged - or there won't be any sport in it anymore. However, ALS will probably raise 50M dollars.

Brilliant campaign from that perspective.

Ice Bucket Challenge Donations Reach $79.7 Million as of today.


http://www.alsa.org/news/media/press-releases/ice-bucket-challenge-082514.html

I've posted on the Facebook thread that some TBM's are into this latest fad, and I'm not sure they're actually donating since they're devout Mormons who never miss tithing or fast offerings. The thing is, when I first heard about this challenge, it was actually done for a breast cancer charity as that's what some friends did it for.

I haven't been called out, but as I live in southern California, I think it's a waste of water in this drought. I'm one of those who has quit watering the lawn and have planted more drought tolerant plants. I've even posted on Facebook that this is just a fad, and for those in southern California, it's wasting water. If I did get called out, I'd just write a check to whatever charity I felt like and be done with it.

Wow..there are a large variety of opinions on this ice bucket thing!

I wouldn't take the challenge, for a variety of reasons.

I prefer to stay under the radar and make my donations quietly or anonymously.

There are some folks with money to donate in large amounts and they do. Often celebrities and others have their favorite charities that they are involved in and contribute huge sums of money.

We each can decide for ourselves and make up our own mind about what we want to do with our money and time.

Actually, it's my understanding that you do a video OR you make a donation. So just make a donation. Unlike all these people flautning their narcissism masquerading ad altruism, you will actually be doing something. Or just donate to some other charity, or don't do anything at all. Your call.

If I get nominated that's what I'll do. Just donate. I don't need to tell people about it. I care even and I don't have to be seen caring.

I agree with the OP and have felt resistant to the bucket challenge but couldn't put my finger on the reason until I read this post. I don't want religion preached to me ever again, I don't want to be shamed into "good" behavior ever again, I don't want to be peer-pressured into charitable acts ever again. Although I can't control whether people treat me like this, I can at least not comply. When these things happen I will choose to appear the scrooge rather than give in to manipulation techniques.
Definitely a home run marketing technique, though, and now watch for the copycats.

One more thing is that I have sharply curtailed charitable giving for now because I would like some offset for the years and years of tithing. I've done far more donating than the average person. It's unfortunate that it was wasted on TSCC, but that can't be changed and I don't have to make up for it.

The challenge is just a form of chain letter. Chain letters are dangerous, no matter their purported charitable excuse.

Give to charities if you like, but don't pass on chain letters to shame people into donation.

I dumped the ice water on my head. I donated $$$ to ALSA.org I didn't think too much about it. I had some fun and helped raise money for a good cause.

I find the ALS challenge narcissistic. I believe in giving quietly to charities, not making a video of yourself acting like a fool to show how charitable you are. The videos are more like an episode of Jackass than anything resembling charity.