ADDING MULTIMEDIA Christina Aguilera Lends Powerful Voice in Fight to End Hunger as Global Spokesperson for World Hunger Relief Effort this Fall
Yum! Brands announced today that five-time Grammy Award winner Christina
Aguilera is giving hunger a powerful voice by becoming the global
spokesperson for World Hunger Relief.
Aguilera will help raise awareness of the hunger issue this fall by
appearing in a new public service announcement, advertising and posters
made possible by KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. She will also get the
message out by appearing on the World Hunger Relief web site, FromHungerToHope.com,
and in other online hunger relief efforts.
Global hunger has reached epic proportions this year – reaching 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.
"It’s unacceptable a child dies every six seconds somewhere around the
world from hunger,” said Aguilera. "By lending my voice for World Hunger
Relief, I hope to raise awareness about the issue and move people from
hunger to hope.”
Yum! Brands annual World Hunger Relief campaign is the world’s largest
private sector hunger relief effort to raise awareness, volunteerism and
funds to benefit the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) and
other hunger relief agencies. More than 36,000 company and franchised
KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W All-American Food
restaurants located in more than 110 countries participate in the World
Hunger Relief.
"We are extremely excited about Christina’s passion to join the fight
against hunger,” said David Novak, Chairman and CEO, Yum! Brands, Inc.
"Christina’s global iconic status will raise tremendous attention to
this critical issue, and more importantly, will save millions of lives.”
Since the World Hunger Relief launched in 2007, more than one million of
the Company’s employees, franchisees and their families have volunteered
more than nine million hours to aid hunger relief efforts in communities
worldwide. The effort has raised $36 million for the 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, where hunger is the most prevalent.
At the Clinton Global Initiative last year, Yum! Brands pledged to do
the following over the next few years: 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 more than $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 $500 million of its food to hunger
relief agencies in the U.S.
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 the leaders in international retail development. The company
has consistently been recognized for its reward and recognition culture,
diversity leadership, community giving, and consistent shareholder
returns. For the second year, the company launched the world’s largest
private sector hunger relief effort in partnership with the United
Nations World Food Programme and other hunger relief agencies. To date,
this effort is helping to save approximately 4 million people in remote
corners of the world, where hunger is most prevalent.
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 and the United Nations
frontline agency for hunger solutions. In 2009, WFP aims to feed 105
million people in 74 countries.
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