"Can you imagine a world without kitten videos on YouTube? We can't either. Speak out for the kittens."
It certainly was a strange message to receive from the ONE Campaign — those crusaders against global poverty and disease.
Kittens? Really?
And then we realized what day it was: April Fools!
Using the bait-and-switch of a (weeping) Hello Kitty cartoon, our clever friends ONE Campaign took traditional April 1 tomfoolery and turned it on its head with the new video "I Predict," that uses humor to drive home a stone-cold sober reality: Within three years, we may very well witness the beginning of the end of AIDS worldwide.
During the Sundance Film Festival in Utah earlier this year, ONE drafted a host of glitterati for the "I Predict" video, including Edward James Almos, Allison Janney, Blythe Danner, Ice T, Richard Jenkins, and (our favorite) Martin Starr (aka "Bill Haverchuck" from Freaks and Geeks!) nearly unrecognizable with long hair and a beard.
According to ONE:
The world has made incredible progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Over 6.6 million people are on lifesaving AIDS treatment and nearly 350,000 babies have been born HIV free to-date thanks to programs like the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Still, we are a long way from declaring victory on AIDS. There are roughly 8 million people still in need of treatment, more than 1,000 babies are born HIV-positive every day, and new HIV infections still outpace those newly placed on treatment by nearly 2:1.
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