In a strange, somewhat belated take on a charity-driven internet craze from several months ago, Russian celebrities are pouring bottles of kefir, a type of fermented milk, on their heads for the greater good.
The gimmick harks back to the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral campaign last fall designed to raise awareness about ALS syndrome. In that campaign, celebrities (and then regular folk) dumped buckets of frigid ice water over their heads, filmed the experience, and then posted the footage to social media, compelling others to do the same.
In this case, Russian celebrities including singer Alexei Vorobyov and ballerina Anastasia Volochkova have tagged their Instagram photos with #IceKefirChallenge, nominating others to participate. The kefir baths aim to promote Dairy Kitchen, a Russian charity that gives out free meals to children under age three (h/t Meduza project). The campaign has yet to go viral, judging by the fact that the hashtag had 58 posts on Instagram at the time of publishing.
The first posts started appearing March 29, leading some Instagram commenters to speculate that the campaign is an April Fool’s joke (we’ve seen no evidence that this is the case).
Putting aside the contradictions of dumping food on your head to mitigate child hunger, the spectacle may be just gross enough to merit watching: