The statistics involved with the AIDS epidemic are staggering. A visit to any AIDS awareness site confirms this. 6000 children orphaned daily because of AIDS… 180,000 in a month… The facts are almost overwhelming. Because of the need for AIDS awareness on a worldwide scale, December 1 is acknowledged as being World AIDS Day.
The search engine industry is also doing their part to improve AIDS awareness by visually supporting today’s cause. Google, Ask.com, and Yahoo all have red ribbon-based images on their start pages. Unfortunately, Live.com (MSN Search) is conspicuous by their absence, which is odd considering how much of a philanthropist Bill Gates has become.
Google’s support of today’s occasion manifests itself in the form of (RED) Campaign support, complete with a logo and a link to the Join Red site.
Aside: the (RED) Campaign supports AIDS Awareness by partnering with certain product manufacturers (Apple, Motorola, Converse to name a few). If an item that’s marked for (RED) support is sold, a portion of the profits goes to The Global Fund.
Meanwhile, Ask.com is sporting a red ribbon that links to an Ask SERP featuring an Answer section reserved for the World AIDS Day website. Yahoo is also supporting the (RED) campaign and their logo links to a Yahoo Shopping page featuring (RED) items and donation links.
It’s refreshing to see the search community reach out in such a manner. When you consider just how much traffic these vessels drive, it’s easier to hope people are at least vicariously coming into contact with this important information.
