Bob Marley's Music Used for New East Africa Famine Campaign
One of the world’s all-time favorite musicians, Bob Marley, is being channeled for a new Save the Children campaign that is targeting famine in east Africa.
The NGO is hoping to utilize the power of social media and the popularity of Marley and other celebrities to spread knowledge and awareness of the dire situation that millions across the Horn of African are in, and of course to raise funds for the Save the Children charity.
Marley’s family chose the track that would be used for the "I'm Gonna Be Your Friend" campaign.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
His wife, Rita Marley, made a statement about the campaign in which she said, “Not one child should be denied food nor water. Not one child should suffer. Along with Save the Children, we must stand up together as friends to put a stop to this, to feed our children and to save their lives.”
Funds from the campaign will go to the Save the Children appeal for East Africa and used for food, water, and medicine.
Dozens of celebrities with wide international appeal including Beyonce, Paul McCartney, U2, Ricky Martin, and Jennifer Lopez have pledged to promote the campaign that kicked off today.
The stars will promote the campaign through social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook.
The campaign has estimated that it would reach over a billion people.
According to the “I’m Gonna Be Your Friend” website, the social media campaign uses Marley’s music because “his music has always conveyed a message of hope, unity, and love.”
The track used for the campaign is the 1973 hit “High Tide Or Low Tide” and the three-minute video was directed by acclaimed director Kevin MacDonald.
The song lyrics include phrases such as, “In high seas or low seas I’m gonna be your friend” and “In high tide or low tide, I’ll be by your side.”
The music is played to a short video with imagery of famine victims from across East Africa.
The video ends on an image of Bob Marley with his hands raised and the words plastered cross his image “Help Them Now.”
