Digital Death to Buy Life

       If you could help to save a life, would you? Leigh Blake and Alicia Keys are the co-founders of Keep a Child Alive; a foundation that supports children with AIDS by providing treatment, care, and support services for the children that need it in Africa and India. According to the Keep a Child Alive website, 14.9 million children have lost their parents to AIDS in Africa alone. This foundation helps these children by building and keeping orphanages in which they can stay.
       A fundraiser called Buy Life started on December 1, 2010, which is also World AIDS Day, and will end when one million dollars are raised for this cause. Many famous people such as Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Kim Kardashian, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Lady GaGa, Jay Sean, Ryan Seacrest, Katie Holmes and others will participate by undergoing a ‘digital death.’
       To participate in this ‘digital death’ these stars can’t post on their blog pages such as Facebook and Twitter. Ads dealing with the ‘digital death’ show pictures of the celebrities posing in coffins and state that the person has died. They had to ‘die’ in a sense of not being heard by the outside world through the internet until the money is raised. As of December 2nd at 7:34 in the morning, there has been $106,699.03 collected, which isn’t a very large amount considering the goal is one million dollars.
       Nicole LaMonica, a fifteen year old, explains that she thinks this fundraiser is “a really good idea.” She thinks that “this is a good way to raise money for this needy cause because people love celebrities and don’t want them to disappear from the internet.” She agrees with this campaign and hopes for the best for this foundation.
       However, Danielle Reffsin, another fifteen year old, states that “I think this is not an efficient way to raise money for AIDS because people shouldn’t be so obsessed with celebrities and the internet and shouldn’t be giving money to get celebrities back on the web. They should focus on AIDS, not themselves.” She disagrees with this method of raising money, but she does believe that money should be given to this cause.
       To ‘buy life’ you can text the first name of the celebrity of your choice to 90999. The minimum amount of money you can donate is ten dollars and with a one hundred dollar donation you will receive a free ‘buy life’ T-shirt. It is also a possibility to sacrifice your own digital life by signing up on their website buylife.org.
       In Kenya alone, there are 2 million people living with AIDS. This disease affects many people in Africa and in India and Keep a Child Alive is working to raise money for these less fortunate people. Whether or not this is an efficient way to raise money is up to you to decide, but this fundraiser is taking place now if you would like to donate money or sacrifice your digital life.