Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and More Staging Digital Deaths for a Cause

Don't worry, Kim Kardashian is not really dead. But starting Wednesday, she won't be quite as lively on social media.

Kardashian, 30, is joining sister Khloe, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys and other stars in signing off Facebook and Twitter beginning Wednesday, which is World AIDS Day, to draw attention to the disease.

The campaign, called Digital Life Sacrifice, includes ads that show Kardashian and others lying in coffins to symbolize their digital deaths. They will sign back on when the Keep a Child Alive charity – which Keys has been closely involved with – raises $1 million.

Other celebrities joining the campaign include Jennifer Hudson, Ryan Seacrest, Elijah Wood, Serena Williams and Keys's husband, Swizz Beatz.

Keep a Child Alive will accept donations via text message and bar-code technology embedded in the ads. The charity raises money for families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.

"We're trying to sort of make the remark: Why do we care so much about the death of one celebrity as opposed to millions and millions of people dying in the place that we're all from?" says Leigh Blake, co-founder of Keep a Child Alive. "It's about love and respect and human dignity."

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