Slacktivist


Today is my 21st birthday. My parents came and brought me flowers and took me to lunch. On the wrapper of the flowers I noticed a little green frog. That little green frog, while seemingly insignificant, represents a campaign with a massive mission - to save the rainforest. The video is the bases of the campaign.


The Follow the Frog campaign started in 2012 and promotes and encourages slacktivism (yes, it’s a real word). It a word that describes people that only support a social cause through social media posting and it’s become all the rage with younger generations. It requires little effort to be a slacktivist, just the ability to post, tweet, or YouTube yourself.

There have been many movements that have started from slacktivism. The biggest one I can think of though is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. If you were living under a rock during this crazy, here’s a little insight. If you were nominated to participate in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge you would have to dump a bucket of ice water on your head (so mimic what it feels like to have ALS), then you would nominate 5 more people to participate and donate $10 to the ALS foundation. If you didn’t want to dump water on your head, then you could donate $100 to the foundation. The whole campaign raised over $10 million. The ALS campaign took slacktivism and turned it into activism.

                                           

Slacktivism doesn’t seem too important, but it raises awareness. Eventually, that awareness will reach someone who will act. So post and tweet about what you support, and make a differece in the world!

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Slacktivism or Activism? (2016, March 01). Retrieved April 09, 2018, from https://www.platypuslocal.com/als-ice-bucket-challenge-slactivism-or-activism/

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 10, 2018 at 11:04 AM

    Reagan,
    I am a proud slacktivist because I do not always protest or take physical action towards causes, but I support major movements through my social media platforms. I am able to like, comment, and share posts that are important to me while having an influence on others to do the same. The ALS ice bucket challenge was an amazing example of getting slacktivist to become activists! Great post!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sarah HarveyApril 15, 2018 at 7:24 PM

    I definitely see the value in raising awareness through social media! Still, there is such potential for incredible change that moves the next step beyond slacktivism. I hope to see our generation, a people who are passionate about bettering the world, thrive in both slacktivism (awareness) and activism (movement). Loved your post!

    ReplyDelete

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