Friday January 11, 2008

Jessica Alba and Alicia Keys are asking Americans to save their pennies to help save a child’s life.

The actress and the singer are just two celebrities involved in the Good Cents Initiative – a campaign by US AIDS charity Keep a Child Alive.

Somalia-born model Iman also appears in the series of ads, which are featuring in glossy magazines throughout America.

So too are Zöe Kravitz – the 19-year-old daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet and Indian model Padma Lakshmi, 37.

All of the ladies – dressed in black – strike, simple poses. The headline “a dollar saves a life” is printed across each photo.

And readers are told that: “Every penny counts. We see every penny as something worth saving. Please join us in helping children in Africa and India get the vital AIDS drugs they need. For information on how you or your company can join the fight, contact www.keepachildalive.org.”

Her hair a mass of waves, Keys, 27, clutches an oversized pink piggybank – encouraging readers to save a life by saving their pennies.

Dressed in a black mackintosh, 26-year-old Jessica Alba shields herself with a black umbrella. The actress is smiling in a rain of pennies, with one hand upturned to catch them.

Kravitz, who has followed her mother into acting, holds up a jar of copper coins.

Iman, the 52-year-old wife of David Bowie, wears her hair in a chic high ponytail – a perfect hairstyle to model a penny earring.

Lakshmi – the estranged wife of author Salmon Rushdie – kneels in front of an oversized US penny.

She is the only celebrity who bucks the trend by wearing grey trousers and a black tank top, as opposed to being dressed head-to-toe in black.

Keys launched the Good Cents Initiative in September when she took part in a roundtable discussion on the state of youth activism.

Other participants included AIDS campaigner and rock star Bono, singer Shakira, actor and comedian Chris Rock and former US President Bill Clinton.

MTV and the Clinton Global Initiative hosted the event.