You don’t have to make a documentary or be a world famous monument to GO (RED). You also don’t have to make art or paint your face (unless you want to, of course). In fact, you don’t even have to get up from your computer right now to celebrate World AIDS Day and help (RED) and the UN achieve the goal of their new campaign: The AIDS Free Generation is Due in 2015.
1. Change your Facebook profile pic to some very progressive art created especially for the 2015 campaign. Choose from artists such as Superexpresso, Jeremyville, or Brosmind. You can also go red on Four Square and Twitter.
2. Check out the (RED) map to see just where and how many people and places have gone (RED).
3. Go Meet Up. Like-minded peeps are coming out to witness red wash over beautiful sites like the Empire State Building, the Sydney Opera House or the London Eye.
4. Turn your website red. Yep. The whole thing.
5. Who cares that Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday are over? Keep shopping because today, it’s for a really good cause. Starbucks never felt so guilt-free. For every handmade drink they will donate five cents to The Global Fund. It’s feeling like a two-latte day.
6. Knowledge is power. Get the facts on HIV/AIDS and learn more about how you can help make an AIDS free generation a reality.
7. Join ONE. This grassroots advocacy group fights extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa, by raising public awareness and pressuring political leaders to support smart and effective policies.
8. Rock out. (RED) Nights says “great concerts save lives.” Check out a show near you to find out if it’s true. Worst case scenario: you hear some good music.
9. Red iPad? Yes, thank you. Download the (RED) iPad app and watch The Lazarus Effect. And, if you don’t have an iPad, you can still watch the profoundly moving documentary about the power of antiretroviral drugs that can prevent mother-to-child transmission.
10. Get tested! Sure, there’s a lot of focus this year on ending the rampant spread of HIV to babies in Africa, but there’s still no cure in the good old US of A. So, if you don’t know your status — that’s your HIV, not Facebook status — get yourself to a doctor or clinic. And, MTV is making testing easier than ever.
Images courtesy (RED).