Ads & Eds: “I Am African”

Hooray! According to my handy dandy ClustrMap, I have finally had my first African visitors. In honor of the occasion, the I Am African campaign.

The photo campaign is a visual motivator for the KeepAChildAlive.org, a charity whose goal is to provide AIDS medicine to children in Africa. The campaign spokesperson is Somalian-born model Iman. Ironically, her picture was the hardest to find of the bunch.

Much more common on the net is the photo of Gwyneth Paltrow. Apparently, a lot of people think it funny that the “whitest white girl” (not my words) is taking part in the campaign. While I agree that the actor is exceedingly caucasian, I still applaud her for taking part in the effort. In fact, her blond hair and pointy nose do well to create on the attention-getting contrast upon which the ad relies.

And really, is it any more ridiculous than Janet Jackson’s contribution? I’m a fan of the woman, but we can’t deny that she and her family members tend to want to erase any signs of their African ancestry.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Ms. Jackson is a part of the cause. Still, the cynic in me can’t help but notice that it’s quite close to her appearance in a plethora of other campaigns, commercials and magazine covers. Oh, she has a new album. Didn’t you know?

Yes indeed Africa seems to be quite trendy among the celeb set nowadays. Not a bad bandwagon to be on if you ask me. Of course I’m biased since I am African.

Tags: I Am African, AIDS in Africa, Celebrity Trends, Janet Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrwo, Iman, Keepachildalive.org

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