The Year for Africa

Hollywood chose to exploit Africa this year in every way manageable.

There's the films:

Catch a Fire with Tim Robbins and Derek Luke, a story about the wrongful imprisonment of a South African suspected of terrorism.

The Last King of Scotland with Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy, about a Ugandan dictator's regime.

Blood Diamond with Leonard DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly in a story about the illegal trafficking of slave-labor mined diamonds in South Africa.

Babel with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, and Gael Garcia Bernal, where, among other plotlines, a man must find medical attention for his wife after she was accidentally shot in a Moroccan village.

3 Needles with Lucy Lui, Sandra Oh, Chloe Sevigny, and Shawn Ashmore, a story that follows three storylines, one of which involves a nun having to sacrifice her virginity to save a South African village.

There's the adoptions:

Angelina Jolie adopted Zahara from Ethiopia

Madonna adopted David from Malawi

There's the ad campaigns:

Gap's RED: Gap is taking part in the Product Red campaign. The collection contains several different shirts with words that include the consecutive letters RED in them, like desiRED or inspiRED or admiRED, as well as several other literally red items. The shirts are manufactured in Lesotho from African cotton. Modeling the clothes are celebrities like Jennifer Garner, Don Cheadle, Chris Rock, Steven Spielberg, Penelope Cruz, Mary J. Blige, etc. A percentage of the profits will go to the Global Fund to help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

Keep a Child Alive: The organization's ambassador is Alicia Keys. There's been controversy about the ad campaigns where several Americans have colorful face paint which supposedly mocks African tribes. Not to mention, underneath their photographs are the words "I am African," which is apparently offensive to real African Americans. According to the official website, in their defense, they believe that "Each and everyone of us contains DNA that can be traced back to our African ancestors." Therefore we should all unite against AIDs and poverty, no matter our skin color. Such face-painted individuals include Gwyneth Paltrow, Giselle Bundchen, Sarah Jessica Parker, Seal and Heidi Klum, Richard Gere, etc.

YouthAIDS "Kick Me" campaign: Rapper Ludacris launched this national, grassroots, student-led campaign to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS among youth in the U.S. "The "Kick Me" campaign is based on the old prank of someone sticking a Kick Me sign on another's back without their knowledge -- just like 90% of those infected with HIV/AIDS may not know they are carrying HIV. YouthAIDS is turning that practical joke into a practical lesson."-P.R. Newswire. The funders of the campaign are Levi and Virgin. YouthAIDS also ran the ad campaign with Aldo and celebrities (Pink, LL Cool J, Avril Lavigne, Benji & Joel, and Ludacris) who did the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" black and white photographs that advertised engraved dog tags.


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