MANILA, Philippines - A new trend called the “Ice Bucket Challenge” has set social media on fire and has made viral videos of celebrities who are pouring a bucket full of ice on their naked bodies to spread awareness on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The social phenomenon, which has hit the social media circuit, includes videos of people getting drenched with buckets of ice water. The video is then posted to social media, asking another person to do the same challenge. If the chosen person refuses to do the challenge, he/she will make a donation to the ALS charity.
This viral sensation, which uses the hashtag #IceBucketChallenge, has drawn thousands of followers, including celebrities who willingly bathed themselves with frozen ice and issued the challenge to others.
Pete Frates, a 29-year-old who has ALS, nominated himself for the challenge. Instead of having ice water poured on his head, he posted a video of himself bouncing his head to “Ice Ice Baby." This is because ice triggers ALS. The video Frates made the #IceBucketChallenge even more popular.
According to ALS Association’s website, the ALS referred to as the "Lou Gehrig's Disease" is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death.
Here are some of the famous people who already did the ice bucket challenge.
Lebron James
Bill Gates
Selena Gomez
Chris Pratt
Taylor Swift
Justin Bieber
Justin Timberlake
Ansel Elgort
Meanwhile, the USA is not the only country doing the ice bucket challenge. Our very own Marc Pingris led Gilas in the challenge as well. The video was posted on his Instagram account, which already has 4,000 likes as of the moment.
The #IceBucketChallenge has raised more than $5.5 million for the ALS Association since July 29.