Ludacris Launches 'Teen Service Announcement', Encourages HIV Testing

With a new “Teen Service Announcement,” multi-platinum rapper Ludacris has become one of the first celebrities to show support for Best Buy’s new teen-led social change platform, @15. The new spot debuted online January 28 at www.at15.org.

The @15 platform was devised by Best Buy to give teens a voice while giving the company insight to the issues that matter to its future customers and employees.

As such, TSAs allow the organizations target audience to hear messages of hope and encouragement from both their peers and “former teens.”

“We all make mistakes, but you have to learn from your mistakes,” Ludacris shared in his video. “Try not to make the same mistakes twice in life. We’ve all been through some bad situations and you learn from them and you become a better person because of it. Adversity can make you a stronger person.”

Best Buy plans on using social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter, as well as YouTube, to engage teens into social responsibility through the testimony of celebrities, musicians and their peers.

The company has also enlisted several other charitable and educational organizations to inform the future leaders of the world, while providing them with a variety of options on how to effect change in their communities.

One of Best Buy’s primary partners in the program is Youth Venture, a global non-profit which helps the youth design and launch their own social initiative by providing them with tools, guidance, training and funding.

In related news, Ludacris will join several celebrities, scholars and politicians, including Master P, actor Idris Elba, and talk show host Tavis Smiley as a spokesperson for this year’s National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

Recognized each year on February 7, NBHAAD is used as an opportunity to encourage African Americans across the country to get educated, tested, treated and involved with HIV/AIDS.

This year, the initiative will include press conferences, community forums, church services, and community rallies, as well as free HIV/AIDS testing, counseling and referrals in the neighborhoods where it is most needed.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Steven Davis, a lead sponsor and member of the NBHAAD Strategic Leadership Council, HIV and AIDS have affected African Americans more severely than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States.

While African Americans account for about 13% of the U.S. population, Blacks in America account for 49% of the people who get HIV and AIDs.

African Americans also demonstrate shorter survival times and high death rates than other ethnic groups.

The disease remains the leading cause of death for African Americans and other Blacks, according to the CDC.

Other celebs involved with the NBHAAD movement include former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy; actors Hill Harper, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Taraji P. Henson; Bishop Eddie Long; General Colin Powell; talk show host Tom Joyner; and U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters.