Aguilera Lends Powerful Voice in Fight to End Hunger by Appearing in
New Global PSA, Advertising, Posters and Online Campaign Including FromHungertoHope.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), the world's largest restaurant company and
parent of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, is launching its annual World
Hunger Relief campaign to help stop world hunger with multi-Grammy Award
winner and pop superstar Christina Aguilera lending her powerful voice
as the effort's global spokesperson. World Hunger Relief is the world's
largest private sector hunger relief effort, spanning 110 countries,
36,000 KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's and A&W
All-American Food restaurants and over one million employees, to raise
awareness, volunteerism and funds for the United Nations World Food
Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief agencies.
Aguilera is raising awareness of the hunger issue by appearing in the
World Hunger Relief campaign's new global public service announcement
and advertisement, made possible by KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, that
will start airing at the end of September. The black and white PSA
captures Aguilera, accompanied by a guitarist, attracting a crowd on a
busy corner in Los Angeles as she sings Beautiful to raise money
for hunger relief. Graphics illustrate that everyone can do something to
help, "all it takes is a dollar and you, hope is in your hands." The new
:15, :30 and :60 second PSA was created by DraftFCB in Chicago, directed
by the award-winning Phil Joanou and edited by Beast in Los Angeles.
Aguilera will also appear in World Hunger Relief restaurant posters with
the quote, "Together, we have the power to save lives and go from hunger
to hope" and online efforts, including the campaign's web site FromHungertoHope.com.
Consumers can log on to the campaign's web site or go to any KFC, Pizza
Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver's or A&W All-American Food restaurant
to donate (no purchase necessary).
Global hunger has reached epic proportions this year - with more than 1
billion hungry people around the world - due to the convergence of the
global economic slowdown; high food prices; increased competition for
products that produce energy; severe droughts and floods due to climate
change; and increasing demand from growing economies in Asia and South
America.
"As a mother, I think it's unacceptable that a child dies every six
seconds somewhere around the world from hunger and I want to do
something about it," said Aguilera. "By lending my voice in the new PSA
for World Hunger Relief, I hope to raise even more awareness about the
issue and move millions of people from hunger to hope."
"As a society, we should not tolerate that global hunger is worse than
ever this year with more than 1 billion people going to bed hungry every
day," said David Novak, Chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands, Inc. "We are
thankful for Christina's passion to join us in the fight against hunger
and help us raise attention to this critical issue and save millions of
lives. We believe it is our privilege and responsibility to find a
meaningful solution to this problem," added Novak.
Novak, the presidents from KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, other senior
executives and franchise leaders traveled to El Salvador in August to
see WFP's relief efforts. Yum! is announcing that it will donate the
first $1 million it raises this year to El Salvador.
Yum! is also co-leading the Business Council to End Global Hunger. The
new effort will encourage trade associations, companies and other
private sector entities in the United States to support the Roadmap to
End Global Hunger - an advocacy initiative laying out a comprehensive
strategy for the U.S. government to set the stage for a permanent end to
global hunger and poverty.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger
worldwide. WFP is currently facing critical funding shortfalls which
means it is being forced to reduce, and in some cases, cut food rations
to the world's hungry, making the World Hunger Relief campaign even more
crucial this year.
"WFP knows how to reach those most in need and will do what it takes to
get a cup of food to any kid in the world," said WFP's Executive
Director, Josette Sheeran. "But without funding, we can't reach these
kids. It takes just 25 cents to fill a cup with food. The World Hunger
Relief campaign helps fill the cup for tens of thousands of kids - and
we're so grateful for it."
This year, Yum! plans to generate the equivalent of nearly $50 million
in awareness of the hunger issue through a PSA, advertising, public
relations, web-based communications and in-restaurant posters. The
Company's employees and franchisees will be volunteering their time
around the globe at hunger relief agencies, food banks, soup kitchens
and launching fundraisers.
World Hunger Relief kicks off its month-long campaign in the U.S.
starting Sept. 24 (Long John Silver's/A&W All-American Food), Sept. 27
(Pizza Hut), Sept. 28 (KFC) and Oct. 8 (Taco Bell). The Yum! Foundation
will be covering WFP's administrative fee so that funds collected online
and at its restaurants will go directly towards feeding poor school
children in the developing world and helping villages become
self-sustainable. Every U.S. dollar raised will provide four meals for
hungry children.
Since World Hunger Relief launched in 2007, more than 1 million of the
Company's employees, franchisees and their families have volunteered
more than 9 million hours to aid hunger relief efforts in communities
worldwide. The effort has raised $36 million for WFP and other hunger
relief organizations and is helping to provide approximately 160 million
meals and save the lives of about 4 million people in remote corners of
the world.
Yum!'s World Hunger Relief efforts are highlighted in a new book by
award-winning journalists Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman, Enough: Why
The World's Poorest Starve In An Age of Plenty. For more
information, visit EnoughtheBook.com.
At the Clinton Global Initiative last year, Yum! Brands was recognized
for its hunger relief efforts. Over a five-year span, the Company
pledged to: raise and donate at least $80 million to help WFP and others
provide 200 million meals for hungry school children in developing
countries; donate 20 million hours of hunger relief volunteer service in
the communities in which it operates; donate $200 million worth of its
prepared food to hunger agencies in the United States; and use the
Company's marketing clout to generate awareness of the hunger problem,
and convince others to become part of the solution.
Yum! and its brands have been committed to fighting hunger for more than
a decade by donating over $46 million of prepared food annually to the
underprivileged in the United States. Since the company went public in
1997, it has donated more than $550 million of its food to hunger relief
agencies in the U.S. The Company also has been the primary sponsor of
the Dare to Care Food Bank in Louisville for nine years, and has donated
$9 million to this local Agency.
Yum! Brands, Inc., (NYSE:YUM) based in Louisville, Kentucky, is the
world's largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants, with
more than 36,000 restaurants in over 110 countries and territories. The
company is ranked #239 on the Fortune 500 List, with revenues in excess
of $11 billion in 2008. Four of the Company's restaurant brands - KFC,
Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver's - are the global leaders of
the chicken, pizza, Mexican-style food and quick-service seafood
categories, respectively. Outside the United States, the Yum! Brands
system opened more than four new restaurants each day of the year,
making it a leader in international retail development. The company has
consistently been recognized for its reward and recognition culture,
diversity leadership, community giving, and consistent shareholder
returns.
Christina Aguilera is one of the most successful recording artists of
the past decade, selling more than 42 million records worldwide.
Aguilera's 1999 self-titled debut album spawned three #1 singles on the
Billboard Hot 100. Aguilera has won four GRAMMY Awards and one Latin
GRAMMY Award.
WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger
worldwide, and the United Nations' frontline agency for hunger
solutions. In 2009, WFP aims to feed 108 million people in 74 countries.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=6056669&lang=en
Source: Yum! Brands, Inc.
Contact: Dana Metz
Weber Shandwick
312-988-2378
[email protected]
or
Virginia Ferguson
Yum! Brands, Inc.
502-874-8200
[email protected]