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The ice bucket challenge is weak.

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So if I understand the rules, if you do pour the ice water on your head then you either donate 1/10th of what you were originally challenged to, or nothing at all. Why are celebrities doing this instead of just paying the donation? Or are they doing both? Doesn't really seem to make much sense to me from a fundraising POV.........
 
They are doing it because it raises awareness for ALS, and is promoting donations. I'm sure the celebs doing it are donating quite a bit as well.

And it's obviously working very well, so I don't see anything stupid about it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/b...-has-raised-millions-for-als-association.html

People have shared more than 1.2 million videos on Facebook between June 1 and Aug. 13 and mentioned the phenomenon more than 2.2 million times on Twitter since July 29, according to those sites. Donations to the ALS Association have spiked. As of Sunday, the association said it had received $13.3 million in donations since July 29, compared with $1.7 million during the same period last year. It said there were about 260,000 new donors.
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02ranger said:
So if I understand the rules, if you do pour the ice water on your head then you either donate 1/10th of what you were originally challenged to, or nothing at all. Why are celebrities doing this instead of just paying the donation? Or are they doing both? Doesn't really seem to make much sense to me from a fundraising POV.........
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It's more for promoting awareness and most folks are doing both(the challenge and donating).
 
SP33Demon said:
More like most people are just going the ice bucket thing because "it's cool" and not donating at all. From what I've seen.
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I'm sure that's the case in some situations. But regardless this is driving a ton of donations for ALS, so overall it's a really good thing.
 
Poare Bear club thing scares me a bit. I worry some people might hit the ice cold water, go into shock and then proceed to drown. I know they have people standing by in case of that.. right? I think the ALS challenge is something everybody can do safely and still have fun.
 
SP33Demon said:
More like most people are just going the ice bucket thing because "it's cool" and not donating at all. From what I've seen.
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how do you know who is donating and who isn't, based on just watching a video of someone pouring ice on their head?

oh yeah ... you don't.
 
I don't understand all the negativity. This has clearly been a very successful campaign so far.

Does everyone who did the challenge actually know what they're doing it for? No, but that's not the point. If that person tags 3 individuals and 1 of them actually bothers looking up what ALS is and perhaps make a donation, then it was a win. Donations have clearly been spiking so there's no arguing with that.

The "challenge" itself is very well thought out. It's easy enough to do, pretty safe, but at the same time can be mildly entertaining. Because it is so easy to do, setting the time limit (24 hours) also makes sure that the momentum is kept going. This is why it's so successful and was able to make it spread so quickly.
 
yuchai said:
I don't understand all the negativity. This has clearly been a very successful campaign so far.

Does everyone who did the challenge actually know what they're doing it for? No, but that's not the point. If that person tags 3 individuals and 1 of them actually bothers looking up what ALS is and perhaps make a donation, then it was a win. Donations have clearly been spiking so there's no arguing with that.

The "challenge" itself is very well thought out. It's easy enough to do, pretty safe, but at the same time can be mildly entertaining. Because it is so easy to do, setting the time limit (24 hours) also makes sure that the momentum is kept going. This is why it's so successful and was able to make it spread so quickly.
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dude ... this is ATOT. pretty much 99% of all threads you read on this forum are about people hating something.

oh, and it's "cool" to hate on all things popular according to the internet, didn't you know?
 
Anyone know if this has filtered through other parts of the govt besides Obama? If they were smart they'd start doing this (especially congress). As much of a ploy as it would be, im sure some of their approval ratings would spike, on account of people realizing they have a pulse.
 
SP33Demon said:
More like most people are just going the ice bucket thing because "it's cool" and not donating at all. From what I've seen.
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Ignoring your lack of evidence for a minute, let's take your pessimistic viewpoint and go with it. If it's mostly just vain, self-centered people doing it then they've successfully managed to use these people's vanity towards promoting awareness and greatly increasing the number of donations. Mission accomplished.

It's sad how some people feel the need to hate on anything that grows even mildly popular.
 
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Chapbass said:
Anyone know if this has filtered through other parts of the govt besides Obama? If they were smart they'd start doing this (especially congress). As much of a ploy as it would be, im sure some of their approval ratings would spike, on account of people realizing they have a pulse.
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Only the first couple would get a ratings boost. Everyone after would just be seen as a "oh, me too!" ploy for attention.

Bezos did it, Takei did it. Now, if only Neal deGrasse Tyson and Patrick Stewart do it, the world would be complete.



BTW, I hate they call it ALS. Fuck that noise! It will forever be Lou Gehrig's Disease! But then again, I still use the term 'mongoloid'.
 
And it looks like any ice cubes have been removed first to avoid damaging anyone's head. Which could bring up a little bit of an off topic subject if I could. Do some sports teams leave in the ice cubes when dumping Gatorade on the coach? Wonder if any coaches got harmed that way.
 
PlanetJosh said:
And it looks like any ice cubes have been removed first to avoid damaging anyone's head. Which could bring up a little bit of an off topic subject if I could. Do some sports teams leave in the ice cubes when dumping Gatorade on the coach? Wonder if any coaches got harmed that way.
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All the ones I've seen kept the ice cubes in it. And I doubt there has been any serious injuries due to the Gatorade shower, but I don't have any motivation to back that claim up.
 
Red Storm said:
Ignoring your lack of evidence for a minute, let's take your pessimistic viewpoint and go with it. If it's mostly just vain, self-centered people doing it then they've successfully managed to use these people's vanity towards promoting awareness and greatly increasing the number of donations. Mission accomplished.

It's sad how some people feel the need to hate on anything that grows even mildly popular.
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I'm not saying it's bad, I'm glad it's raising awareness for a disease that we cannot cure yet. But the people I've seen do it (about 10 on FB) either didn't mention ALS and/or they didn't donate (I asked two this morning). So it seems like it's something a lot of people are doing to "be cool". Get a hobby.
 
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