MASON writes:

I’ve been thinking about this trend of ALS Dunking for a few weeks now as it mushroomed and then died out on my Facebook feed. For me, the key insight to understanding this fad is vanity. Each video is an opportunity to show off the key Millennial virtues: humanitarian concern, physical beauty, wit, and popularity.

Importantly, consider how this video spreads. You’re supposed to be nominated to participate. A nomination is an invitation to sit at the cool kids’ table. It is an unsubtle popularity cue: who nominated you? How many different people did so? And how quickly into the trend were you nominated? In turn, you have the power to confer the blessing of a five minute self-promotion video on other people, perpetuating a popularity pyramid scheme. Who are the coolest of your associates? Now is the time to name their names and be counted.

Second, the actual video is a perfect excuse to take off your shirt and show off your body. If you’ve got the beefcake, you won’t forget to flex when the icewater hits; if you’re a babe, make sure to chose a bikini that will show off those [breasts] once they perk up. There will never get a better alibi for doing this. Even those who  don’t have a great bod have an opportunity to show off – you get five minutes of scripted time to tell some jokes or perform a skit. Some of these videos are quite elaborately done, with costuming, rehearsal, and painstaking post-production. Something is in it for everyone.

The cause of ALS is unimportant except for the fact that it is the alibi which indemnifies the participants from accusations of the great millennial sins of vanity and hypocrisy.

— Comments —

William writes:

I would like to preface this comment by saying I am a younger Gen Xer who did participate in the Ice Bucket Challenge (IBC) in addition to donating so if you want to assign bias to that feel free.

However, I am of the mind that anybody that attacks the IBC doesn’t really understand the reality of charitable giving.  There are hundreds of thousands of worthwhile charitable organizations out there, and everybody is too busy to spend the time researching the validity of all of them.  Most people primarily donate to organizations that they have a personal connection with or have somehow gained mass recognition.  These limitations on charitable giving are not confined to any one generation.

Enter the IBC, which removes nearly every obstacle to donating.

1)      It creates mass name recognition, and thus rightly or wrongly, credibility.

2)      It asks for more than just money so donors don’t feel like they are just a wallet.

3)      It turns donors into recruiters who are recruiting their friends/family, which builds the all-important personal connection between the organization and the donor.

4)      The method of recruitment does not create an uncomfortable situation for the person asking for money, as it’s a silly open request rather than a serious concrete conversation.

So while you might say that the IBC plays into Millennial vanity, you cannot deny that it is remarkably effective at removing barriers that every person has with donating money.  How is it then that you can claim to know the mind of these donors? Has any other organization been successful in removing the barriers to donation en masse and failed to generate as much money?

Lastly, I would like to point out that Millennials do not hold a monopoly on vanity.   If I pick up my local weekly and turn to the social pages I see three Boomer charitable dinner/balls where they all get dressed up, drink, dance, socialize, and raise $5-20k for whatever charity.  This is not an atypical week.  Why all the hullabaloo and inviting the local press if not for charitable feelgood?

Laura writes:

You are right, there is a long tradition of vanity giving.

James writes:

This quote from scripture seems relevant (from the start of Mathew 6):

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

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