The viral “no makeup selfie” craze has led to Cancer Research UK raising more than £2 million, but some confusion about what to text has meant that some people have also mistakenly adopted polar bears and donated to Unicef.
To donate to Cancer Research UK, people are supposed to text “BEAT” to the number 70099, but those who instead typed “DONATE” ended up donating to Unicef, and those who mistyped “BEAR” ended up being called back by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) about adopting a polar bear.
UNICEF believes that they have had £18,625 from people that meant to donate to Cancer Research UK, according to the BBC, and the charity has said that they are working with Cancer research UK to make sure that people’s pledges go to the right place.
The origins of the #nomakeupselfie are unclear, although it has taken off on social media over the last couple of weeks, with members of the public and celebrities all sharing photographs of themselves makeup free, and nominating other people to do the same.
If this raises cash or awareness, cool. #nomakeupselfie @CR_UK I donated here http://t.co/5hHvAQ3vKZ boys? Your turn! pic.twitter.com/YdUQ94G1yW
— suzi perry (@suziperry) March 21, 2014
Here's my #nomakeupselfie #breastcancerawareness Please help out and text BEAT to 70007 All for a great cause X pic.twitter.com/GXIIzerot9
— Coleen Rooney (@ColeenRoo) March 22, 2014
