Light a Candle to Unite Against AIDS, sorta
The email said:
40 million people in the world are infected with HIV and that number is rising daily. The majority of these people do not have access to life-saving treatment.
Here is something simple you can do to help fight a problem that affects us all…
Bristol-Myers is donating a dollar to AIDS every time someone goes to their website and moves the match to the candle and lights it.
Please forward this to your friends to spread the word.
It takes one second to raise a dollar.
(Tip o’ the hat to Aunt Elaine)
However, a few corrections are in order. Obviously you can’t donate to AIDS itself (lol). Nor, despite the wording, are they donating for AIDS treatment. The company is Bristol-Myers Squibb. And they are so overwhelmed by the response, that if there really was a promise to donate a dollar for each lighting of the candle, it is no longer in effect. Although the count is approaching two million, they are only donating $100,000 for AIDS awareness education (in cooperation with the National AIDS fund, in some unstated capacity). Not practical education, not treatment – just a nebulous “awareness.”
Still, better than nothing, I suppose.