Only those in the medical community or anyone familiar with the life sciences knew what amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease was.
Public awareness of the disease spiked after the so-called ice bucket challenge was launched on Facebook when golfer Chris Kennedy performed it and dared his cousin, Jeanette Kennedy whose husband suffered from ALS, to do the same.
From then on, it was only a matter of time before viral videos of Hollywood celebrities and ordinary citizens taking the ice bucket challenge spread and encouraged local celebrities, who are eager to ape anything that’s remotely Hollywood, to perform their own version even on live TV.
While no one should begrudge or deny anyone his right to do the ice bucket challenge and post a video of it in social media sites, we wish that those who do should take more time to raise awareness about the disease and maybe come up with better variations of the campaign to focus on other pressing issues.
For starters action star Vin Diesel came out with his own campaign, a tree-planting activity called “Plant a Tree for Groot” named after the humanoid tree character he portrayed in the blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy” (the fact that there’s a dancing Baby Groot video doesn’t hurt).
There are similar tree-planting campaigns like those done by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) that drew participation from companies and recently, there’s that tree-climbing done by running priest Fr. Robert Reyes that caused Environment Secretary Ramon Paje to suspend the issuance of tree cutting permits.
The tree-hugging done by mountain climbers and Reyes drew some useful publicity, but the resulting suspension of tree-cutting also invited the ire of Cebu mayors whose concern for their constituents was seconded by their desire to have the road-widening project fully realized.
In contrast, the ice bucket challenge, while drawing far more attention and raising millions of dollars through social media, had been criticized for being largely self-indulgent, self-congratulatory “middle class wet T shirt contest for armchair clicktivists”, according to a Daily Telegraph article by British TV producer Willard Foxton.
Despite the criticisms against it, what made the ice bucket challenge work –– aside from its celebrity glitter –– was that it was fun while it encouraged people to contribute to a worthy cause.
Environmentalists and those lobbying for other worthy causes, like the road sharing proponents whose activity will be held on the last Sunday this month, may learn a thing or two from the ice bucket challenge to win massive support for their advocacies, without having to talk down on their audience.