Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014
According to our textbook, there are specifically nine reasons I think people participate in a groundswell. (Li, Charlene, Bernoff, Josh 2011). Very inspiration story.
1 - Keeping up friendships - Some people may do the challenge as a way to connect or reconnect with others. When the Ice Bucket Challenge started, it was mostly family and friends doing it as a way to show support for Pete.
2 - Making new friends - Some people may do the challenge are simply a way to meet new people. In the video, the mom discusses how during the first week, they got local media to join the conversation and by week 2 the conversation went national wide. This is all because new people like to be involved with large challenges, as that leads to meeting lots of new people.
3 - Succumbing to social pressure from existing friends - The Ice Bucket Challenge, like other challenges are sometimes performed by people that are not normally “joiners”, but will do it, because their family and friends are doing it. In the video, many family members became the accountant or artists of “Team Freight Train”, simply because all the family was joining.
4 - Paying it forward - Since the Ice Bucket Challenge was created as a fundraising challenge to help research treatments and cures for ALS, some people will participate as a way to do something for the greater good. In the video, Uncle Dave could be placed in this category as he immediately started a website as the webmaster.
5 - The altruistic impulse - Some people will also volunteer and participate again as a way to feel good about themselves, because they are helping with ALS research, so they feel that the challenge has greater value then as just a challenge. In the video, Andrew literally quit his job to take care of his brother Pete, which is very altruistic.
6 - The prurient impulse - Some people will not be moved by the ALS disease or the challenge as a way to raise research money, but rather just to watch or perform something silly.
7 - The creative impulse - Some may participate in the challenge simply as a way to express themselves, especially if they are creative in their performance or method involved in the challenge. In the video, I would place the mom who started the challenge in this group, because she wasn’t afraid to talk about the “elephant in the room” of no treatments or plan to attack ALS. You could also include Uncle Artie, who got creative and made the “Human Bloody Mary” with his challenge video.
8 - The validation impulse - Few may actually have the ALS disease and see the challenge as a way to validate who they are and what they are going through. In the video, Pete had just been diagnosed with ALS and stopped his family in their tracks by given them a vision of “Team Freight Train”.
9 - The affinity impulse - Some may have ALS children or know people with ALS, so this challenge is a way to see others that have similar interests and experiences. In the video, many people came together because of their interest in ALS or their experience with it.
