If you are Deaf or have Deaf friends and/or relatives, you will have noticed that a craze has swept the Deaf community on Facebook. If talk of this “craze” is news to you, you’ve come to the right place to find out what it is!
So what is the craze in a nutshell?
The craze is called ‘Nomination Drenching’! Deaf people post videos to Facebook tipping buckets of cold water over themselves.
Usually, the video depicts the person (normally in this order)
- a) thanking [sarcastically?] the person who nominated them
- b) mentioning the charity/group for who they are drenching themselves for
- c) nominating a deaf friend or friends to drench themselves within a certain time frame (i.e. 24 hours), and finally…
- d) The self-drenching commences!
So how did this craze start?
It began in New Zealand last week and became extremely popular. However, as soon as it hit our shores, the deaf community adopted it and owned it for themselves. You will now see members of many community sites, i.e. The Tree House, posting self-inflicted drenching videos on their Facebook page.
Even terptree’s Director, Victoria Williams and her husband have gotten in on the action. You can see her clip below:
So should you embrace it?
Whether you think it’s daft, trivial, mocking or condescending, it’s fun! And is definitely raising awareness.
As the ‘no make-up selfies’ proved, we all enjoy seeing something that a) is borderline controversial and b) raises awareness of a cause or charity. And this ‘Nomination Drenching’ craze is a terrific way of getting attention, as long as people do not go over the top.
A fatality occurred in New Zealand after a man had a cardiac arrest following a “heavy drinking session” and a “bucket of ice tipped on his head”, which serves as an example that extreme conditions should be avoided!
In short, ‘Nomination Drenching’ should prove to be a safe, amusing and fun way to boost recognition for the deaf community and the issues people face!
So just one more thing… you’ve been nominated!
Get filming and have fun! 🙂
