News

Er, the iPhone Just Got the Ice Bucket Challenge

by Nuzha Nuseibeh

We've seen Martha Stewart do it. We've seen Matt Lauer do it. We've seen Chris Pratt do it (and can all die happy, now). We've seen President Barack Obama get challenged to do it by Justin Bieber. But we couldn't really say that the Ice Bucket Challenge was a full-on phenomenon until we had our technology challenging our other technology to pour freezing cold water over itself — until today. In a video uploaded Friday, that is part-spoof part-advertisement, Samsung's Galaxy takes the Ice Bucket Challenge and nominates the iPhone — geddit, because the iPhone can't do it since it's not waterproof?

The clip, which was uploaded to YouTube by Samsung UK, is less than a minute long. It opens with a shot of the Samsung Galaxy S5, in a Matrix-like background of pure white. In a creepy, British cyborg voice — presumably the actual voice of the Galaxy S5 — the phone tells the camera: “I am the Samsung Galaxy S5. This is my Ice Bucket Challenge." Water, with some cubes of ice, fall onto the device, apparently from nowhere. It continues to spill, though it's unclear where it's going. The phone, having no facial features with which to react, then says in the same British monotone: "Gosh that’s freezing. I nominate the iPhone 5S, the HTC One M8, and the Nokia Lumia 930.”

In case that weren't jab enough, Samsung also Tweeted the video, saying: "Brr, Our #GS5 just took the #ALS #IceBucketChallenge in support of @MNDAssoc. Are you up for the challenge?"

Importantly, the Tweet suggests that the corporation donated some money to the MND Association (the UK version of the ALS association) — important, because it brings us to what the Ice Bucket Challenge is actually about: raising money for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The Ice Bucket Challenge campaign has been incredibly successful, raising $42 million for the ALS Association. Sadly, Samsung's bizarre video is less about ALS and more about the S5, though, sleaze aside, it's perhaps to be expected. McDonald's also used the Ice Bucket to advertise its (apparently smokeable!) food.

Presumably, the iPhone won't be responding to the nomination. (Apple's Tim Cook has already dumped a bucket of ice-water on his head, after all.) As for Nokia and HTC, one YouTube channel has already responded to the challenge for them, uploading a video of both the Lumia 930 and the HTC One M8 being doused with ice-water (a much less creepy, much more satisfying and multi-angled video, it's worth pointing out).