SEPTEMBER 2 — The latest in a string of curious phenomena is making the rounds on Facebook.

Every day — multiple times a day, in fact — I receive posts from drenched individuals who have taken the Ice Bucket Challenge and pledged a donation to defeat the Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) — a debilitating and degenerative terminal illness.

Bravo!

Anyone who stands up and does something voluntarily for the good of others deserves a pat on the back.

Malay Mail editor-in-chief Datuk Wong Sai Wan last week stood outside the office and took the challenge himself — more than once.

For him, ALS was personal, having taken a family member years ago, so he had a point to prove. And he did so with aplomb.

Yet, the challenge strikes a chord.

As Facebook marketing campaigns go, it has been a sensation.

No doubt, PR and marketing teams in other major charities are sitting there feeling sick as another opportunity gone begging.

They could copy it, but that would seem disingenuous and when your existence is based on being open and honest, copying a rival’s marketing campaign is a no-go.

Then again, there are other issues to consider.

Over the years, Facebook has been accused of many things but it has revolutionised social interaction.

For the most part, we use the platform as an extension of our daily lives, sharing in real-time events that would take hours or days to relate by phone, letter or even email.

Some go one step further, using Facebook to pour out emotions that they would otherwise scribble into a diary for their inner torment to only be known when it is too late.

Then, there’s the ice bucket challenge — emotional blackmail.

Essentially, pay up or be known to the world at large as an uncharitable miser, a Scrooge even.

Okay, so it’s supposed to be lighthearted fun and not taken too seriously, but a fair proportion of society does. It is instinctive.

Having asked around, a number of people have told me they would rather not do it.

Some even said they have done it because they didn’t want to lose face and, as mentioned, be seen as uncharitable.

The whole idea begins to rankle.

First, there aren’t many people in the world who like being told how to spend their money. It is a private affair.

There is no doubt that we are charitable citizens and have made donations to worthy causes.

But to which cause we donate and how much is our business, not that of Facebook or the Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association (ALSA) in Washington DC.

Second, how many people would donate when they know that 72 sen of every ringgit donated is not going to fund a cure for ALS?

Mercifully, admin costs at ALSA only account for a few per cent, but 46 per cent goes on awareness and fundraising.

Sorry, but how much awareness do you need that costs so much?

I knew about ALS, or motor neurone disease, when I was a kid.

While far from being an expert in this area, I knew that it was progressive, degenerative, and that someone with it was going to experience a painful death while men and women of science battle tirelessly to find a cure.

What else do I need to know?

The experts are the ones who are supposed to be working on the cure.

The ice bucket challenge has, to end of July, raised at least US$94 million (RM296 million) for ALSA.

Using the financial breakdown, an estimated US$43 million (RM136 million) will be spent on hammering home the message above (which took all of a few minutes to write down, including creative musing), while less than US$26 million (RM82 million) will be used to do something about it.

Sorry, but I want a better return for the money I donate than that.

Wouldn’t you?

* Gareth Corsi is a news editor at Malay Mail.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.