MUMBAI: Move over selfie craze and make way for the latest internet viral the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’, which a number of musicians have been taking part in over the last few days. The challenge is simple: it involves the person dousing themselves in a bucket of ice cold water, after which they nominate others to do the same. Once nominated, the challenge has to be completed in 24 hours. Fail to do so, and the nominee has to donate $100 to the ALS Association.
So far, a number of musicians including Justin Timberlake, Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Jason Mraz, Gwen Stefani, Selena Gomez, Blake Shelton, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin have completed the challenge and posted video of it on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and others. Each of these has also nominated others to take up the ‘ALS Ice Bucket Challenge’, creating a chain that is quickly spreading. Along with completing the challenge, many of them have also donated towards the cause.
While it is not clear who started the trend, the challenge apparently became a phenomenon after Pete Frates, a former college basketball player nominated his friends while Vanilla Ice’s popular track ‘Ice Ice Baby’ played in the background. Frates, who was diagnosed with ALS two years ago, and has since lost the ability to move his hands and legs or even talk.
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Since 29 July, until now, the ALS Association has raised over $15 million towards the cause, with numbers expected to rise further after the involvement of celebrities. During the same period last year, the association managed to raise about $1.7 million, a far cry from the current numbers.
The cause aims at not only generating funds but also at creating awareness about the condition, commonly known as Lou Gerig’s disease, which attacks the nerve cells, eventually leading to complete paralysis.
