The latest social media craze, the #MannequinChallenge is being carried out by millions of people around the world from kids in the school playground to sports teams in the locker room and even Michelle Obama in the White House.
For those that don’t know it - the challenge is to get a group of people, whether it be friends, colleagues or teammates to freeze in position long enough for a camera to pan round and film them frozen to the spot.
Its beauty is its simplicity, all you need is a group of people and mobile phone camera to take part, there are no buckets of ice or make-up free selfies in sight.
Although there is no mass charity fundraising angle to it like previouse crazes - or real purpose other than having a bit of fun - the sector hasn’t been slow to catch on with many charities taking the opportunity to at least grab some free publicity from the inevitable social media shares for their latest campaign or text to donate numbers.
Here is a list of some of the best from across the UK that might inspire your organisation. Feel free to share your views in the comments below or email a link to your charity’s attempt at [email protected].
Young Scot
When you are an organistion working with young peole it would be criminal not to be up with the latest trend. Thankfully Young Scot has its finger on the pulse. We particularly like how it got its branding in on the chalkboard.
RNLI
The RNLI's challenge was interupted by the small matter of having to go out and save another life at sea. As well as a clever tag line telling people not to be a mannequin if they see someone in trouble the charity also made sure that anyone clicking on screen during the video is directed to its latest campaign video afterwards.
JDRF
The diabetes charity JDRF used its video to promote its #T1DLooksLikeMe campaign and included a link to its website.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF)
The BHF took a novel approach to the challenge by using actual mannequins. We're not sure if this is cheating but it's clever considering their relevance to the charities work. It also managed to get its own #RestartAHeart campaign included.
Muscular Dystrophy UK
Muscular Dystrophy changed up the challenge and made it the #mannequin4muscles challenge. Posting on its social media the charity added a call to action for peopl to strike a pose to highlight MD and then text MDUK15 plus a donation amount to 70070.
St John Ambulance
This has to be one of the stillest yet! First aid charity St John Ambulance's fundraising team have made a great video. We particularly like the end where a 'patient' is seen receiving CPR followed by the use of text to say that only one in 10 people have the skills to save a life. The charity also links to its website for people to donate or learn new skills.
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland have laid a bit of a gauntlet down to Friends of the Earth Scotland with this effort. We're sure the charity north of the border could use some of our beautiful scenery to one up their colleagues stuck in an office down south though.
Dogs Trust
We couldn't resist including this one because of the cuteness factor. Extra points are due for getting the dogs to stand pretty still!
The Boys' Brigade
The boyrs from 19th Motherwell Boys Brigade' laid down the gauntlet to their fellow Boys' Brigade members by showing off just some of the fun things they do.
