When you think of Christina Aguilera, the image of a risqué, risk taking, talented young woman comes to your mind. We are probably used to seeing her in pictures like these and we definitely recognise her for her distinctive soulful and powerful vocal abilities. Someone that actually sings for a living.
In a Public Service Announcement, PSA for short, released this week, shows her communicating with the audience for a very different and special cause close to her heart. She’s the ambassador for World Hunger Relief, a campaign by Yum! Brands for hunger relief to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds, mainly for the United Nations World Food Programme. Capitalizing on her massive star power, they hope to raise awareness and funds for their noble cause.
Hunger is something that we can take care off very easily and conveniently in our developed world today. For us, to satisfy our hunger at 2am, MacDonald’s is just a phone call away. What we fail to realize is that millions of children around the world are actually suffering from hunger and they have to go to sleep hungry or even die because of hunger. The PSA feeds off a very innate human instinct of hunger it is a highly relatable cause.
Opening with Xtina singing an a capella version of ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, a tune so well-known universally, cross cultures and languages. Be it in Chinese or French, it’s so recognizable because we’ve been tucked into bed by our parents with it and parents still do so to their little ones today and what I think will be the case for generations to come. In this way, it becomes synonymous with children and parents tucking them in. It would intrigue viewers to know what is going on in this PSA. The message of this PSA would hit the hardest for the parents. It makes them think ‘what if that was my child?’ and this urges them to put in a donation to help children suffering across the world. Even children might be able to recognize the fortunate state they are in and offer to donate their allowance to help these children.
In all its simplicity, the lullaby packs a powerful punch in this PSA.
Slowly, Xtina is revealed in a very toned down appearance, in a stark difference from what we are used to seeing from her. Her no-frills acrobatic singing style she is famed for, no flashy clothing or crazy hair and not even her trademark siren red lipstick. Effectively, it sheds a different light on her, portrayed as someone more approachable, relatable and more of your ‘everyday woman’.It allows us to see her from a different perspective, as a mother instead of a superstar (well, maybe a superstar mum). Recently, she became a mother and using this newfound status, she is able to convey her message:
“As a mother, the idea of a child going to sleep hungry is unacceptable … together we can give every child a chance to dream.”
Delivered in a somber tone, coupled with the stunning fact flashed, her message is brought forth much more effectively. It provided the needed right amount of seriousness but yet not imposing on the viewers to put them off.
The credibility of the message lies in the fact that she has a son and that she wouldn’t want to see her son go through such an ordeal. If she didn’t have a child, the entire campaign would fail because the audience would think of it as a lie. This could mean detrimental effects for the organizers of this campaign aimed at getting donations to help starving children around the world.
Throughout the PSA, Christina is surrounded by children holding up sparklers which light up one after another and this signifies that hope is always there and can be created by every single one of us. They all stand in close proximity, together with Christina, to show unity and that they are sharing a common goal. We can all bring hope to someone living halfway across the world or even to our neighbors who may be living in poverty.
Hunger and malnutrition are the number one risk to health worldwide – greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. This is such a noble undertaking for a both private organization and Christina Aguilera. Together, they have raised more than $85million since they teamed up in 2009 and provided 350million meals for hungry children in over a hundred countries. But, this is an ongoing fight and donations are much needed all the time.
If this issue has touched you or perhaps disturbed you that so many children are in hunger, consider making a donation and your dollar could go a long way.
Heck, even I’ve made a donation.
Did you know that?
$25 feeds a child in school for half the year
$50 feeds one child in school for the entire academic year
$70-100 per child provides supplementary food to a child under 2 years of age for 18 months
$1,000 feeds 100 school children for one year
All media courtesy of http://www.fromhungertohope.com/
bright lights big city 
This blog entry is awesome. It’s quite insightful and I managed to understand more about Xtina. Yes, there are many hungry people all over the world that we have to help, let’s do our part 🙂
Wow! this is amazing! 🙂 knowing more about Christina and how she helps hungry people all around the world. I am inspired!
I’m not a really a fan of Christina but after reading about how she put her heart and soul into help starving, unfortunate children around the globe, my view of her has changed for the better! It has also set me thinking about how fortunate we really are and how we can help these children whenever we have the means to do so. Truly motivational.
We often never think about what people our age are having to deal with in their own countries. We take for granted the things we have today thing people in poorer countries consider as luxury or may not even heard of it before, like a laptop. For a celebrity to throw her weight behind such a good cause, to me, its amazing.
This is the second time i’m commenting, the first time i did apparently the school’s computer system shut me out and deleted the comment.
Christina. What can i say, her singing still brings back memories of the times when she was still in the mickey mouse club, back with all the child stars who we all know very well today. It’s amazing how she’s changed and matured, but her voice remains pure, strong and reaches out to you even through a computer screen.
Nobody can forget her song, Reflection, can you?
It’s really nice to see celebrities doing something for nice for a change rather than being in the news for all the wrong reasons. And for Christina, her voice in itself is empowering and in a way, inspiring as well.
I think we all still remember Reflection and it has such meaningful lyrics too!
never expected that about her!! but heard her mention it on ‘ The Voice’ too…. she really means what she says and i am glad you have chosen a wonderful idol to inspire and follow=]
She should do more songs for charity=]
With her large fan base around the world, it would certainly be a great boost to the efforts of World Hunger Relief to raise awareness about its programmes and how people can contribute to helping these less fortunate people. With Christina’s star power, more people would definitely come to know about World Hunger Relief, and thereby also allowing more people to be able to reach out to these less fortunate.
certainly with her huge following around the world, she is able to reach out to the masses more effectively and promote this cause of trying to feed the hungry across the world. Coupled with her success, I’m sure she is doing a good job in conveying the message.
I think she’s putting to good use her star power and large fan base around the world to a very good cause. It will definitely raise the profile of World Hunger Relief’s efforts of raising awareness of the plight of children that are suffering around the world, going to bed hungry. For her to take time our of her busy schedule to promote such a worthy cause is really commendable!
Wonderful post that kept us thinking. In Singapore, we never have to worry about hunger or poverty. But on the other side of the world, they always have to worry whether the next meal will be possible. Every dollar from us will be able to make a difference.. and I’m proud of Christina who stepped out to promote the cause.
Good post Jeff! Besides feeling englightened,I actually liked reading this on my Sunday morning! Makes you feel good and how not every Music Artiste is fame-crazy and immature-ish in their behaviour. At least someone’s growing up and growing oh-so-beautifully! (:
Big fan of christina’s vocals, just as big a fan on giving aid to the less fortunate. I just came back from a trip to Batam, in which my intent was to simply observe nature beyond the borders of Singapore. But I can’t help noticing the irony of the stark contrast between Singapore and the state of development in Batam which is a mere hour and a half away. Getting to school in Boon Lay takes longer than travelling to Batam. Lol. But really, what striked me the most in having conversed with some of the locals there is the fact that corruption is very much prevalent in many countries, aggaravating the income gap between the rich and the poor in many developing countries like Indonesia. These people and their children will remain hungry for as long as such corruptions exist. They have even resigned themselves to their fate with only so much that they can do to help themselves, earning as little as SGD$1.50 per hour and having to slog 12hrs a day doing hard labour, just to send money back to their villages at the end of the day, making sure they feed their families back at home. If the world doesn’t chip in to do their part to help feed the poor children, nobody will. Yes Christina is doing this for a good cause, and so what if she incidentally gain some fame from it too, it is ultimately the cause that matters, and I am fully supportive of such efforts by any celebrities for that matter, as long as we know for sure that the proceeds are funding the food for the poor, the food that we take forgranted everyday. Wonder if Christina has tried fasting ;D you should try it too Jeff. Hungry, is an understatement.
i agree, its heart wrenching to see people living in such poverty when they are only such a short distance away. its worse when the children have to take on laborious jobs to supplement the income of the family instead of actually having an opportunity to go to school to receive an education so as to have a brighter future.
But i mean, if celebrities actually go out of their way to support a cause, it is a really commendable act although it is inevitable that they will receive some sort ‘fame’ for the matter of fact.
I’ve not tried fasting like how the Malays do it, but I have several days of the year where i fast and although its far from what you do, I know how it feels.
it’s nice to see celebrities helping organisations gain awareness to help the less fortunate.. but we ourselves have to be aware of the problems the world face.. we should look to our favourite celebrities and see the causes they are supporting that allows the world to see how big the disparity between the rich and the poor are.. most of us are in the middle.. but what can we do to help the less fortunate? thanks for this post jeff, it really allows one to think and reflect what we can do to help.. all of us have wants and most of our needs are met.. but for others, their needs are not even fulfilled..
I think we need to choose who we ‘idolize’ in the media carefully. many of them today are not exactly what we call role models to day. they have a significant influence on us. I agree with you that we in singapore have whatever we want and food is the least of our concerns and we are spoilt for choices when ever it comes to meal times. or even whenever we feel hungry, its so easy to get food. i mean, if we try to help the less fortunate once in a while, the whole world would be a much happier place.
I think it’s really great that Christina took the time to make this commercial. With her large fanbase and her star power, it would have certainly made it a hell of a lot more noticeable.
But the thing is – would it still be as noticeable if a normal, average person (say, you or me) did the commercial instead of her? I mean, it’s a message that’s meant to be spread, but how many people would actually pay attention if an average joe were on the screen instead of a superstar?
i think it wouldn’t have such a huge impact if an average job was used simply because no one would bother giving a second look. i mean, christina just had a child and she could relate to the cause and people with children will be able to relate to her and on top of that, she has her large fan base all over the world to garner support from as well.
What a noble thing to do. In the midst of her busy schedule, she actually took her time to stop to think and be aware of things that are happening around her, real things. It is always nice to hear that celebrities like her are actually genuinely concerned for the people. Good choice of artist Jeffrey and it is almost like a wake up call for us in Singapore who fell that our life is hard to live. Imagine going through a few days without food? Here in Singapore, we wait to be served food that we sometimes cant even finish.
its really nice to see celebrities taking time off their schedules to do something like this. not just christina but any other celebrity that is putting their star power to help drive a cause. unlike celebrities like lindsay lohan who’s constantly getting into the news for all the wrong reasons.
if your child was not getting food in singapore, social services would come knocking on your door and haul you to court and you might lose your right as a parent but in countries like Africa, children die from malnutrition. what an irony.