50 Cent Donates Meals for Facebook 'Likes'

Rap artist 50 Cent has launched an ambitious Facebook campaign that’s designed to give away 1 million meals to hungry children. In conjunction with World Food Day on Oct. 16, the performer – whose given name is Curtis James Jackson – has pledged to donate one meal for every “like” accrued on the Facebook page for his one-month-old “Street King” energy drink. The effort is evidently capped at 1 million likes.

What’s particularly interesting about 50 Cent’s Street King product is that it underscores how the rap artist is treating his entertainment brand like a thoughtful corporation. Whenever someone buys the energy drink, he has pledged to donate one meal to a hungry child. In that case, the consumers don’t have to go on Facebook to “like” Street King.

It’s a philanthropy strategy not unlike the one Starbucks has employed for years with its Ethos water. The retail giant donates proceeds from purchases of the product to supplying people in underdeveloped nations with clean drinking water.