What can we learn from the Ice Bucket Challenge, the line between charity and self-promotion?

In the summer of 2014, the Ice Bucket Challenge spread around the world and attracted many high-profile participants. The challenge raised awareness of ALS and spurred donations, but it was also used as a means of personal promotion and product marketing. This makes us think about the nature of philanthropy and our role in it.

 

The rules of the Ice Bucket Challenge, which has spread like wildfire around the world since the summer of 2014, are pretty simple. A person pours a large bucket full of ice water over his or her head and covers their entire body, then nominates three subsequent challengers, who have 24 hours to either cover themselves in ice water or donate $100 to the ALS Association. To date, the challenge has been participated in by U.S. President Barack Obama, Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook, and many others, and in Korea, more than 6,000 people from all walks of life have participated in the past two months since it was introduced by a singer in August 2014. The National Lou Gehrig’s Disease Association officially announced that approximately $100 million was donated through the Ice Bucket Challenge in the month of August 2014, and hundreds of millions of won were reportedly donated to the Korean ALS Association.
The reason why the Ice Bucket Challenge has spread so quickly and attracted so many people is, of course, the effectiveness of the event due to the voluntary participation of celebrities, but there is something unique about the Ice Bucket Challenge that makes it spread so rapidly and with such a huge impact that cannot be compared to other forms of philanthropy spearheaded by celebrities.
From a celebrity perspective, Ice Bucket Challenges can be a great way to instantly boost your image in a positive way, and they’re also a great marketing tool. While the participants’ willingness to take on the challenge may be motivated by a genuine desire to share their pain and help those suffering from ALS, there’s also a desire to capitalize on it and promote themselves to the world. Bill Gates showed off his knowledge of physics by inventing an ice bucket device, and he didn’t forget to show off Microsoft’s new tablet PC. Politicians, eager to promote themselves, use challenges to gain publicity and show “camaraderie” by nominating fellow politicians to be the next challenger. Celebrities and athletes flaunted their toned muscles and bodies during the challenges. In its smartphone commercials, Samsung doused its products in ice water and nominated a competitor’s product to be the next challenger, touting the superior waterproofing of its products compared to others.
On the other hand, the public has continued to support the Ice Bucket Challenge despite realizing that it is increasingly being used to promote certain people and products. People criticize the insincere propaganda of politicians who come to traditional markets to eat tteokbokki and sundae during election season, but they are fooled by their “common man” appearance and vote for them again. A CEO dances and sings, and his subordinates enjoy his ‘brokenness’, even if his voice is nasal. A stern-looking professor cracks a dry joke in class, and students relate to him and enjoy the class. Similarly, when people see an authoritative public figure make a fool of himself or herself, they feel a sense of humor, a sense of identification that breaks down the barriers between them and themselves, and they turn a blind eye to their pursuit of publicity and profit.
Lou Gehrig’s disease is an incurable, rare disease that progressively weakens muscles and turns nerves to stone, leading to death. While people with the disease are living in excruciating pain and despair, pharmaceutical companies are reluctant to invest heavily in developing new drugs because they will never be able to generate much profit even if a cure for the disease, which affects only a few people, is developed, and governments and international organizations are turning a blind eye to the incurable disease. If the so-called “solution” to the suffering of people with Lou Gehrig’s disease is the Ice Bucket Challenge, we can no longer enjoy watching celebrities being doused in ice water. There are so many underprivileged people who need our attention and help, not just terminally ill patients who are dying due to a lack of systematic care, but also poor and lonely elderly people living alone, African children enduring hunger with no water to drink, and young boys and girls who have to take care of their younger siblings while the rest of the family enjoys the love of their parents. The $100 million in donations that the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised over the past few months is far short of the $1 billion needed to bring a new drug to market for Lou Gehrig’s disease. Isn’t it right that we douse ourselves and the world with ice water every minute of every day to remind us to pay attention and love to others?