The first question you're probably wondering is if I actually participated in this challenge. Well, to be honest, I had my sister dump ice on my head and put the video up on Facebook but I never actually donated. It was also a let down since the people I nominated did not event participate in the challenge. I felt that I was supporting a cause and felt good about what I did but it definitely made me uneasy that I did not actually donate and that others I nominated did not rally the cause.
If I'm being truthful, I still feel a bit ambivalent about the challenge and whether or not it has proven to be effective for raising awareness and money for ALS. Part of me agrees with my sister who would constantly go on rants about how ineffective the ice bucket challenge actually was and did not do anything besides further one's own ego. I will be the first to admit that I couldn't wait to get nominated and see how many likes I was going to get on my video. However, the other part of me thinks that this challenge is a social media phenomenon and a brillant PR/marketing strategy. From a Public Relations perspective, branding is everything. Sadly sometimes companies can't do much without public recognition, thinking about issues such as research for ALS.
I've been thinking quite a bit about what our guest speaker from a few weeks ago had to say about the importance of telling the story. Rather than the ice bucket challenge, perhaps videos such as Anthony Carbajal could have been more effective. Carbajal suffers from ALS and shared his video on YouTube which was viewed by millions of people. I encourage you all to watch it and share your opinions on the effectiveness of this video.
I would love to hear from you so here are some questions to ponder...
1) Did you participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge?
2) Do you think this challenge proved to be effective from a philanthropic point of view?
3) If you were a PR employee for ALS, what would you have done to help raise awareness and money for ALS?
Great post, Ashley! I was wondering if someone would take on the topic of the ice bucket challenge this week and I'm glad to see that you did and that you chose to add your own perspective as someone going into PR. Even though this challenge took off nearly a year ago, I am still not sure how I feel about it. Some of the biggest criticisms I have heard about the challenge have to do with the fact that it wasn't spreading enough awareness about the actual disease it was supposed to be supporting and that it was taking valuable funds away from other charities and organizations. As far as spreading the word about ALS, I think that the challenge was a definite success. Even if it did not start out this way, by the end of the wave of challenges, everyone knew that it was in support of ALS and nearly everyone had seen or done their own research on the disease. I think that many people, especially members of the younger generation, have become a little more informed about the disease and the effects of the disease on people who suffer from it. Even if they are not aware of a lot of the specifics of the disease, they are at least aware of its existence.
ReplyDeleteBy looking at the numbers on the ALS website, it is clear that this challenge was also successful as a fundraiser. Even if many of the participants failed to donate to the cause, the number that did were able to largely increase donations to the organization. I have read several criticisms of the challenge that say that the funds donated to the ALS organization could have been better used by donating to an organization that researches diseases that are more prevalent. I have also read criticisms that say that a (relatively) small organization receiving this many donations in such a short amount of time will be detrimental to the organization in the end. Finally, I have seen opinion pieces that state that when people donate to ALS for the ice bucket challenge, they will not donate to other organizations that also need the money. I have a harder time with this part, as I feel that it is just another and more complex way to criticize the way that people are donating their money. I have said this before, and I will probably say it again before the course is over, but I think that any form of donation to a charitable organization is good. I think the vast majority of people that donated because of this challenge would not have donated anywhere otherwise, and I think it is very important to take note of that. Although I did not personally participate, I know many individuals and groups that did. I honestly think that anything that brings awareness and funds to an organization actively researching a disease is a good thing. With that being said, I think that the ice bucket challenge was an overall success, not something that should be criticized as harshly as it has been.
Hi Ashley, I’m excited that you were the one to take on this blog post! I think your experience in the area of public relations gives you an interesting perspective on the marketing and advertising sides of nonprofits. Particularly because we have been talking about the ALS Ice Bucket challenge, reflecting on what we discussed in class on the blog has made me think more deeply about my opinions on the issue. At the time that the Ice Bucket Challenge was really popular, around the middle of last summer, I anxiously awaited to see if I would be tagged in any of my friends’ posts where they drenched themselves in water. Much like everyone else, I simultaneously dreaded and hoped for a nomination. However, the amount of thought I put towards the silly challenge hardly had anything to do with ALS, or even the ice water itself. Like most others, I was concerned about my social status. I didn’t want to be excluded from the trend, or face the embarrassment of everyone who followed me on one of my many social media accounts to know that I had nobody to nominate me.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t wind up getting nominated for the challenge after all, but I don’t think that impacted my view of this challenge negatively – as a matter of fact, I actually think it has made me take a more objective view on the issue. While I didn’t complete the challenge or donate to the ALS Foundation, I managed to escape the guilt that I have heard many of my friends, and now you, refer to for completing the challenge without donating. I still felt the impact in other ways, however. I helped my brothers, mother, and cousins complete the challenge, and I made sure that they mentioned where to donate to the ALS Foundation too! I have to admit, I was feeling a little righteous about the whole thing at the time. Despite the coverage the challenge was getting, and how much money I knew it was raising for the cause, seeing so many people I knew in high school just make silly videos while I knew they were ignoring the real cause was driving me a little crazy. I also wound up really enjoying some of the videos that made the message clearer; I particularly remember one video where the man doing the challenge first talked about how much it all meant to him, because his mother had died after a battle with ALS.
After all, I do think the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was an effective tool for garnering support and attention for a worthy cause. They did raise quite a lot of money, and almost everyone I know has heard of the challenge and now has more knowledge about ALS. We spent a lot of time discussing the negatives in class, the people who didn’t participate, donate, or even acknowledge that what they were doing was for a cause, but those people didn’t really harm anyone, and the people who did contribute did much more good.
I’m interested to see if starting trends to get people to pay attention and donate to an issue will become a trend in itself! Anything that gets more people educated about the real issues in the world is alright with me.
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! I know we all were really into the discussion of the Ice Bucket Challenge, especially since so many of us either participated or knew someone who did. I'm in the same boat as you. I participated in the challenge, but didn't actually donate. (In the version of the challenge that got to me, you had 24 hours to complete the challenge or else you had to donate.) What I thought was the most interesting part, though, was trying to find other people to nominate. Most of my friends had already done it, and another person politely declined, saying that he "didn't really feel like dumping ice on himself." I did finally find someone to nominate, and they ended up doing the challenge, but I thought the reaction of my first friend was really thought-provoking.
At first I was a bit taken aback by his reasoning, but then I realized that he really isn't as different as I was. After all, I didn't actually donate to the cause, what difference did it make whether or not I posted a video on the internet? Is just getting the word out enough?
With those questions in mind, I watched the Anthony Carbajal's video, and one quote in particular stuck out to me. Around the 4 minute mark he says something like "we wouldn't be so successful if we weren't irritating a few people, right?" I think this is an interesting statement that goes along with my dilemma, and I think it also ties in with the "pink" debate that we had earlier in the semester.
I guess, ultimately, the Ice Bucket Challenge was a success in that it raised awareness and millions of dollars for a previously obscure cause. Maybe, then, it doesn't even matter whether people completed the challenge begrudgingly or with enthusiasm. In any case, it was definitely a phenomenon that I doubt we'll see again on a similar scale.
Thanks for the post, Ashley! Like Bethany, I was curious to see who would tackle the Ice Bucket Challenge. This trend indisputably raised money and awareness for ALS, but I do understand where and why people have issues with it.
ReplyDeleteFor a while now, I have been searching the internet for trends similar to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I have found none. We see silly things like The Cinnamon Challenge, Chubby Bunny Challenge, etc.: random videos that have no pull on society or the future. Nothing like the Ice Bucket Challenge has happened before, and it’s uncertain whether it will happen again. Rather than criticizing the Ice Bucket Challenge for the flaws it may have had, we should focus on how to use trends and marketing in similar but improved ways to promote causes.
A New York Times article from August explains that the Ice Bucket challenge was only tied to ALS after several weeks of circulating on its own (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/business/ice-bucket-challenge-has-raised-millions-for-als-association.html). It was not until Pete Frates, a victim of ALS, made the connection that the Challenge videos began to make a difference. This is what makes the Challenge special. Frates saw a trend, made a connection, and started a wave that will benefit ALS research and those afflicted in the future.
The ALS foundation’s mistake was allowing the Ice Bucket videos to stand alone. I know that personally I researched ALS for the first time when I heard about the challenge, and many of my friends did, too. That’s amazing in itself: these videos made people take the time to learn about a worthy cause. The ALS foundation should have seized this opportunity to really promote their work. Along with Ice Bucket videos, I would have been compelled to donate through informational videos available on different social mediums coming directly from the organization.
I really encourage everyone to check out this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e8xgF0JtVg) that explains The Girl Effect through interesting, comprehensive graphics. I’ve seen this video multiple times and it never fails to catch my attention and really stick with me. The Girl Effect video provides the statistics that the ALS Foundation should have shared while the Ice Bucket trend was on the rise. A clever attention ploy is not enough to make a lasting difference. It must be backed up with informative and accessible information on the cause that will help people understand the organization they are supporting. ALS had the amazing chance to have a voice above every other organization and I am not sure they fully took advantage of the power in this voice.
Sure, the Ice Bucket Challenge may have been an ego-booster and a publicity grab. But that doesn’t seem important to me. What is important is that people researched the cause and donated to it. I hope that in the future ALS representatives will use the Challenge as a jumping point and continue to fundraise and educate the public on ALS. The Ice Bucket Challenge was an important innovation in the world of philanthropy. If organizations learn to combine the amusing publicity of the Ice Bucket Challenge with the important informative powers of the Girl Effect video, we will surely see an improvement in philanthropic understanding and donations to worthwhile causes.
Ashley
ReplyDeleteI also attended the forum on the ice-bucket challenge last semester so I’ve put a lot of thought into this topic. I didn’t participate in the ice bucket challenge, and when I think about if I would now after receiving so much information on it, I sill don’t think I would. Yes, it’s a fun interactive way to donate money and I think it’s a brilliant idea, but a lot of people participated for the wrong reasons. I’m not someone who likes to post on my Facebook page often so I was immediately turned off by this whole idea. However, for those people fiending for likes this could have been a major reason for participating, which is not just unproductive, but morally wrong. I suppose it can be argued that even if you don’t donate money you are still spreading awareness, but I just don’t understand the “pour ice on your head, or donate” concept. Of course after the initial first videos there began a sworm of people making videos within their own creative integrity. I recall one video of a friend of mine pouring a bucket of cash on his head instead of ice-water and then donating that instead. So I guess the whole cause wasn’t a loss because there are some people seeing beyond the Facebook likes and donating for their own reasons. It is true I wouldn’t have even known what ALS was had I not seen these videos popping up on Facebook. However, my curiosity inclined me to further research it because the videos usually never even explained what the disease was.
I definitely think this is a controversial topic and I toggle back and forth between whether I like the idea or not. Regardless of my personal issues with the challenge, there is no argument about whether it was effective or not from a philanthropic point of view. Since July the ALS Association has received $115 million in donations, proving this challenge to definitely be a huge success. After listening to the Syracuse representative and everyone involved in the forum they all seemed pretty optimistic about the whole ordeal and definitely supported the challenge. No matter your motive for participating, the videos still spread awareness regardless of each individual donating. I wonder if the challenge was to “pour ice-water on your head AND donate” how this would have affected peoples participation.
I really enjoyed this post and the video you shared with us. At first I was watching and was a little skeptical about what I was viewing, a hairy man in a bikini representing ALS on his behind? As the video progressed I felt the emotion Anthony was experiencing and realized this video had a purpose. This idea of the identifiable victim comes into hand once again. Anthony’s video definitely left me with chills because as this affects his family we were able to feel differently than watching people merely pour the water on their head, having no connection to the disease itself. The identifiable victim effect definitely made Anthony’s video more powerful.
Great post, Ashley. After being nominated twice, I did give in to the peer pressure, but I don't think it was wrong of me to not donate. Without the countless ice bucket videos like mine, the movement wouldn't have spread so far. People like Bill Gates probably wouldn't have donated without the strong base of people who only made videos.
ReplyDeleteI know that some people believe that it didn't really raise awareness of ALS, but I think it did. I remember how many conversations it brought up, and how many people remarked that they had never heard of ALS before. I also remember seeing Anthony's video at the time. I think that his video in particular really made people refocus their attention on ALS.
I'm always a bit skeptical of the whole idea of raising money to cure a disease, though. I've thought about this a lot with the whole "Pink Ribbon" thing. My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago so she's really against "pink washing." When thinking about cancer in particular, there probably will never be one cure, because there are so many different types and stages and treatment strategies. It's not like there's one cure out there that will be found if people simply donate enough money. Maybe it's different with ALS, but unfortunately, pharmaceutical companies don't see ALS treatment as profitable. I think this is terrible and I wish the whole system was different. Just donating money will never be enough, especially when we're not exactly sure where the money is going. I think that the real solution lies in changing the way that pharmaceutical research is funded.
Ashley, interesting post and great video link!
ReplyDeleteI wrote a comment about your blog post yesterday but when I clicked on the YouTube link my comment disappeared. I was obviously very frustrated and decided to go for round two today, However, I was smarter this time and opened up your YouTube link on a different tab on my computer. I have to say that my stance on your post today and my stance on your post yesterday are very different and that is because of the video you posted. Yesterday I wrote a blog comment first and then watched the video but I watched the video first this time around.
My blog comment yesterday revolved around me pondering a lot of questions that no one has the answers to. The beginning of this year our class debated about whether intent matters when it comes to philanthropy. I think our final conclusion was yes, intent does matter. In order to be considered a philanthropist our class, myself included, argued that you needed to have good intentions behind your donations. I still agree with that today. However, I hold that someone can have bad intentions and still be hugely influential when it comes to charity work or donating to nonprofits. People who donate money for tax write offs or people who pour ice on themselves only because its the popular thing to do might not be doing it for the best intentions but the results of their actions are leading to good things. Someone who donates a million dollars to a nonprofit solely for tax write-offs is helping the company more than someone who truly stands for the same cause and is donating selflessly but can only donate a hundred dollars. Do the ends justify the means? I think they do and I think the video you posted helps prove that.
I never did the ice bucket challenge because I was never nominated. I did slightly judge my friends who did pour ice on themselves because I knew that some of them were only doing it to have a chance to post a video of them in a bikini or just because everyone else was doing it. I didn't think they were helping the cause because they opted to pour ice on themselves instead of donating money. But the YouTube video changed my mind. This guy was so touched about how big the ice bucket challenge got and by how many people were posting videos. It was helping him that people were spreading awareness about ALS. This guy brought it to my attention that it is necessary that awareness is spread about ALS because only 30,000 people have ALS. That number matters because pharmaceutical industries don't want to provide funding to find a cure for it because it is not profitable as the market isn't a big one. That makes me so sad and upset and frustrated about the reality of our medical industry. Even if my friends were pouring ice on themselves for selfish reasons it doesn't matter. This guy from the youtube video didn't care about intentions, he cared about results. And the videos created results that were undeniably amazing and no one can argue that. Over 100,000 million dollars has been raised because of the ice bucket challenge, a 3500% increase from the same time last year. That increase would not have been possible without the awareness people were spreading by making these videos. Maybe my Facebook friends aren't considered philanthropists but no one could deny that they did something that was helpful, beneficial, and led to remarkable impacts.
Ashley, I love your post! I think we all had a lot of opinions on the ALS ice bucket challenge, in terms of its marketing or its effectiveness.
ReplyDeleteAs some know, I participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge this past summer. My friend Sami from back home knows about ALS, and feels its influence everyday as she and her family cares for her father who was diagnosed a few years ago. So, when the ice bucket challenge became popular, she immediately bought several bags of ice and rallied us in bathing suits in her swimming pool. And honestly, looking back, it was the biggest she'd smiled in a while.
Weeks later, I realized none of us had donated to ALS. And no one we'd nominated had participated. But to Sami and her family, it didn't matter. She'd gotten the chance to raise awareness and stand in solidarity with her father. She'd gotten all of us together and she'd done something physical to show her support. And to me, that meant the campaign did what it was supposed to; it brought fighters and their families together, and it let them celebrate how far ALS research has come and how much farther they have to go.
I understand the class's arguments; that in terms of spreading, many didn't accept their nominations and many more didn't donate. But to me, stunt philanthropy has less to do with raising money, and more to do with Sami. It's about that solidarity. It's about doing something as simple as getting a bunch of friends, dumping ice on your head, smiling to the camera in spite of hardship, and saying, "Something is better than giving up. And we can do something."
Ashley, what a great post! A public relations event like the one experienced by the Ice Bucket Challenge comes along once in a lifetime. Such a great case study for any person interested in a career in PR. Every organization on the planet both for-profit and non-profit dream of a campaign that has the viral experience of IBC.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the event itself can overpower the message of the event (or organization) and thats what happened with the ALS campaign. Don't get me wrong, it can be a very good problem to have if its managed properly, which the ALS explosion seems to have been.
It will certainly be a tough act for any organization, including ALS, to follow-up. Hopefully, ALS will manage to proceeds well so that the windfall that was produced can have long-lasting benefits for the organization.