From Buckets to Bots: The Shared DNA of the Ice Bucket Challenge and AI Image Trends

Apr 23

Guess what? The Ice Bucket Challenge is cool again.

If you were on social media back in 2014, you most certainly saw (or participated) in the original challenge—which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for ALS research with a viral challenge to create and post a video of someone dumping a bucket of ice water on your head.

Now, it’s back in a new form, with a new cause, mental health. Check out how internet personality Zach King interprets the trend:

The reincarnation of the Ice Bucket Challenge got me thinking about viral trends and how they might be reimagined for the AI era. And it dawned on me: Those recent AI image trends (action figure images, Barbie images, pets imagined as people, movie posters) have a lot of DNA in common with the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Here’s how I see it:

Social Creativity as Identity Performance

Then: Dumping a bucket of ice on your head was a quirky way to show you cared, belonged and were “in” on the moment.

Now: Generating a custom AI action figure or movie poster version of yourself is a way to showcase your humor and your aesthetic—and also to flex your AI fluency.

A noir movie poster for a fictitious movie called Agent of AI Influence, starring Debra Aho Williamson — Want to star in your own movie? With a few prompts, you can!

Participation Over Passivity

Both trends invite users not just to watch, but to create and remix.

Then: The Ice Bucket Challenge had its own structure: perform, record, share, tag.

Now: AI image trends give you a toolkit: tweak a prompt, stylize your avatar, create your own version.

Viral Chain Reactions

Then: The Ice Bucket Challenge relied on social pressure through tagging (“I nominate…”).

Now: AI image trends lean on viral FOMO and peer comparison. Seeing your friend’s AI action figure makes you want to make your own—no need for direct tagging anymore.

The Role of the Platform

Then: Facebook’s algorithm helped the Ice Bucket Challenge go viral.

Now: TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads now amplify AI trends through visual-first formats. They help users to remix culture, and algorithmic discovery allows the trends to flourish.

The New “Challenge” Is Prompt Mastery

Then: It was about who could endure the ice and make a funny or heartfelt video.

Now: It’s about who can craft the best prompt or generate the most original image using AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney or TikTok’s built-in generators.

What it Means for Marketers

The Ice Bucket Challenge pioneered a viral format of personalized participation + public sharing, and today’s AI image trends are its digital descendants. They both thrive on the same formula:

A creative task
A visual payoff
A social loop

Whether you’re creating social posts that amplify the Ice Bucket Challenge or you want to tap into the latest AI image trend, the core dynamics of social media engagement haven’t changed. But it’s also true that they’ve become more personalized, more visual and more AI-assisted.

Debra Aho Williamson

Debra Aho Williamson is a dynamic analyst and market influencer known for her ability to spot shifts in consumer behavior that create tectonic changes in marketing strategies. As founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, Debra provides research and advisory services to businesses that want to break new ground and lead industry conversations about the transformative impact of AI on marketing and consumer behavior.

https://www.sonatainsights.com/