About
#WakeUpCall is a hashtag fundraiser campaign for UNICEF in which the participant posts a selfie immediately upon waking and pledge to donate money to help the children displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria, then challenge three others to do the same, similar to the nomination method used in the Ice Bucket Challenge for the ALS foundation.
Origin
On October 6th, 2014, UNICEF’s UK Twitter account[4] introduced #WakeUpCall with an instructional message urging people to share a wake-up selfie and donate to the international organization’s humanitarian efforts for the refugee children in Syria. Within 48 hours, the hashtag was tweeted out over 11,000 times.
Spread
Several prominent English celebrities tweeted #WakeUpCall selfies. On October 6th, Tom Hiddleston[6] tweeted a selfie, and on October 7th, Hugh Grant[5] tweeted a selfie.
On October 7th, Buzzfeed[1] published a round-up of #WakeUpCall selfies titled “Celebrities Have Started A New Morning Selfie Craze Called #WakeUpCall.” It was covered on the same day by several websites including Refinery29[2] and The Telegraph.[7]
Notable Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]Buzzfeed – Celebrities Have Started A New Morning Selfie Craze Called #WakeUpCall
[2]Refinery29 – #WakeupCall Selfies: The New Ice Bucket Challenge
[3]The Gloss – Snap A #WakeUpCall Selfie Before You Crawl Out Of Bed To Support A Good Cause
[4]Twitter – Snap A #WakeUpCall Selfie Before You Crawl Out Of Bed To Support A Good Cause
[5]Twitter – HackedOffHugh
[6]Twitter – twhiddleston
[7]The Telegraph – ‘Wake Up Call’: the new Ice Bucket Challenge?