It's moronic... and yet it has indeed raised millions for ALS research. Which is great news for ALS sufferers (if they live long enough to see treatment, which they likely won't), but not so great news for... other charities.
I view the ice-water gimmick as a good thing because it raises awareness. Well, really, it reminds people, because I think everyone knows of ALS, but sometimes it helps to remind people that it's still out there and could use more research. So these stupid stunts bring the disease to the foreground and raise money. Good on that!
Having said that, the stunt is really dumb because you're challenging someone to donate $100 (or whatever) or else pour ice water over your head. So when someone videos himself pouring water over his head, he is making a tacit admission that he would rather dump water on himself than donate $100 to ALS research. This is probably not true. I bet most of the people in the videos did donate something, though maybe not $100. But the statement is still there, so it's pretty dumb. The challenge really should be something like donating $100 and then proving it by videoing yourself with ice water on your head. Not that it proves much but again, awareness.
A friend whose research is in water treatment and desalinization posted something to FB earlier today, pointing out that one of the major causes of death in the world is lack of access to fresh water. And here we are dumping someone's daily supply of water over our heads as part of a bet to
escape giving as much to charity.
As someone with little to donate to charity in any given year, I can think of a lot better causes than ALS research. Consider that about 30000 people in the US suffer from ALS. That's about the same as the number of people
just in my home city (about 10% of the population) who rely on food banks for part of their sustenance. A $10 donation to my local food bank is going to impact more lives
today than a $100 donation to ALS research... for which a useful treatment is years or decades away.
I don't know, maybe I'm more "aware" than other people, but I wasn't ignorant of ALS prior to this. I don't see awareness of a specific disease as a great goal.