I'm sure you have heard or seen YouTube videos of the ALS ice bucket challenge. It might seem crazy pouring a bucket of freezing water over someone's else head...well the Mannequin challenge might seem even more bizarre. But that's the new thing right now in America and a team from the US Embassy staged their own today in Belmopan at the market as part of 16 Days of Activism. We were there to capture it this morning.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
This is one of the many videos of Mannequin Challenges that have gone viral in the US. It started with a group of kids capturing themselves frozen in all kinds of positions.
It's pretty cool and now everyone, even rap duo Rae Sremmurd is doing it.
Well the US Embassy in Belize organized their own version of the challenge, replacing rap music with signs for a worthy cause.
H.E. Carlos Moreno, US Ambassador
"The objective here was really to highlight the 16 days Against gender based violence and we are trying to use creative ways to sort of highlight this stuff wearing orange and ribbons and the mannequin challenge is something that came up in the last 2 or 3 months in the US and I am kind of wondering how Belizeans will react to it but as you can see when we had the first 45 seconds of stop motion everybody was watching us and the signs promoting stopping violence , don't hit me and so forth , I think it is a good message if nothing else that people will take away from this is that this is an issue that people need to be aware of and we have chosen thins creative way to bring it to the fore."
Courtney Weatherburne, 7news
"And you picked a very busy and colorful space, the market place."
H.E. Carlos Moreno, US Ambassador
"Yes very deliberate and a lot of people, maximum exposure, just interacting with merchants here, I think was a good move on our part, like you said there is just a lot of people here, a lot of movement and the contrast with the frozen aspect of our poses really highlights how creative this whole thing was."
And surely it was a different experience for these vendors, but they too appreciated the message.
Courtney Weatherburne, 7news
"What was your first impression when these people came up to you said you have to freeze like a mannequin?"
Raul Bejerano, Coconut Water Vendor
"But at first I didn't understand but then it feels alright, a little bit shaky but it's okay."
Courtney Weatherburne
"So you had fun with it at the end of the day?"
Raul Bejerano, Coconut Water Vendor
"Yes."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Do you understand or do you get what the main message is about? Tell us what you think about the initiative here?"
Raul Bejerano, Coconut Water Vendor
"They want to send a straight message so I think it's a good idea."
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