5 Must-Know Facts About Ice Bucket Challenge

#1 Popularity and Rules

People got to know about the iconic challenge after one of the US baseball players was seen taking up the same! Baseball player Pete Frates, who himself is a patient of ALS, came up with the challenge after taking inspiration from a friend. 

As per the rules, whoever will be nominated to take the challenge will have to record themselves while performing the activity. And yes, there was a time span too! If a person wouldn’t complete the challenge in 24 hours, they will have to donate $100 to the ALS association. While it was surely a toughie, various people took part as it was for a good cause!

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#2 Results and Impacts

As more and more people took interest in the challenge, the ice bucket challenge became an instant success on social media platforms. If we check the shared videos as of August 2014, there were around 1.2 million uploads on Facebook within 1.5 months! 

In fact, it also had 2.2 million+ mentions on Twitter as of then. The funds due to the ALS challenge sky-rocketed to $115 million, which is massive! 

#3 Celebrities Who Took the Challenge

If we mention the famous faces who took the challenge, the list includes names like:

• Bill Gates
• Selena Gomez
• Chris Patt
• Lady Gaga
• Justin Bieber
• David Beckham 
• Katy Perry
• Miley Cyrus
• Benedict Cumberbatch
• Jennifer Aniston
• Kate Moss, and many more 

#4 Criticism

Besides the popularity, the Ice bucket challenge received criticism too! Various people accused that the challenge had become less about ALS awareness and more about fun. 

Many said that people were doing the activity for entertainment purposes, and there were lesser donations as it should have been. Willard Foxton, in the Daily Telegraph, elaborated the challenge to become less about the cause and more about the star-pulling power. 

#5 People Who Refused

While many celebrities took part, some refused to do the challenge despite being nominated. This included former professional wrestler Lance Storm. As per him, helping the ALS patients directly would be a better option than doing so through charitable activities. 

He explained how the funds are used for the advertisement and promotion of the ALS association, while the rest goes to Big Pharma! Some other known names that refused the challenge were Barack Obama and Pamela Anderson. 

To Conclude

We bet you didn’t know about these ice bucket challenge facts! ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells of both the spinal cord and brain. Around 5,000 new cases of ALS are diagnosed every year in the US! But, whether the ice bucket challenge was the right way to spread awareness about the disease? Well, the world is in splits about the same!