COMMON AND CONVERSE JOIN FORCES FOR THE RED MOVEMENT

Common, who is scheduled to release his highly anticipated seventh album Finding Forever later this year, has been selected by popular sneaker company Converse to be the face for its new Ad Campaign dubbed Weapon of Change, in support of (Product) RED.


Converse announced recently that Common, Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist and actor, will be the face of Converse (PRODUCT) RED. Common will appear in Converse's first national print campaign to further support Converse's partnership with (PRODUCT) RED.

The Fall 2007 advertising campaign is entitled "Weapon of Change" featuring irreverent messages and bold illustrations encouraging consumers to be optimistic rebels and become agents of change. The Converse (PRODUCT) RED Weapon(R) will be available exclusively through Foot Locker, Inc. and on www.converse.com.

"Converse approached me to join the (PRODUCT) RED initiative and affect change. I have always felt my purpose is to do for people. Converse and (PRODUCT) RED are about people -- educating and reaching out to people to help humanity. I do this through my music, activism and with people I come into contact with everyday. For me, Converse (PRODUCT) RED allows me to help affect change and have an immediate impact on people. Knowing the contributions from this initiative help people who need it makes it incredible because there's no such thing as small change," said Common.

"This campaign embodies the spirit and soul of Converse (PRODUCT) RED. Common is an outstanding partner who has inspired a generation of musicians, poets, aspiring actors and children through his work. We want to inspire Converse people everywhere toward this kind of energy and creativity - to become agents of change," said Dave Maddocks, Chief Marketing Officer, Converse.

The "Weapon of Change" campaign featuring Common was shot on location in Los Angeles by photographer Bryan Adams. The campaign includes black and white photography with an illustrative overlay giving the campaign visual depth playing on the graphic nature of expression on a blank canvas.

The print advertising will run in national (American) magazines beginning July running through September in Complex, ESPN, Fader, Rolling Stone, Spin and Vibe. There will also be out-of-home billboards, wild postings and bus shelters in Common's hometown of Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City.

The Converse (PRODUCT) RED Weapon will be available nationwide (in the USA) exclusively at Foot Locker, Footaction and Champs Sports and on www.converse.com with a suggested retail price of $75. Additionally, there is a Converse (PRODUCT) RED Weapon Ox available with a suggested retail price of $70.

Converse has two additional print ads to support the campaign launch including "Combat Boot" featuring the iconic Chuck Taylor(R) All Star(R) shoe and "Conscience REQUI(RED)" Chuck Taylor All Star Ox. For over five generations, consumers have used the Chuck Taylor All Star blank canvas to express their originality through art, messages, graffiti and illustration.

This campaign celebrates this expressive medium to inspire consumers to become agents of change by getting involved in (PRODUCT) RED, purchasing (PRODUCT) RED items and designing a MAKE MINE RED shoe on www.converse.com to help stop this global emergency.

In addition to the print and out-of-home campaign, Converse will premiere the Summer Issue of the company's website www.converse.com in mid-June featuring Converse (PRODUCT) RED home page. The site will feature exclusive interviews with Common, behind the scenes footage and Common's first single "The Game" off his seventh album "Finding Forever" on sale July 31. The site will also feature ways for consumers to become agents of change and join the (PRODUCT) RED movement.

Converse will collaborate with celebrated designers, artists and musicians to inspire originality by offering limited edition Converse (PRODUCT) RED shoes each season on a unique canvas that preserve culture and embrace creativity.

Depending on the product sold, 5% - 15% of net sales from Converse (PRODUCT) RED shoes will go to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Geneva, Switzerland). (PRODUCT) RED is an economic initiative created by Bono (U2, singer and activist) and Bobby Shriver (Chairman of DATA - Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), designed to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund to invest in African AIDS programs with an emphasis on the health of women and children.


About Converse
Established in 1908, the Converse brand has built a reputation as "America's Original Sports Company"(TM) and has been associated with a rich heritage of legendary shoes such as the Chuck Taylor(R) All Star(R) shoe, the Jack Purcell(R) shoe and the One Star(R) shoe. Converse was the first basketball shoe to ever make contact with the court in 1917. Soon after, Converse gained iconic status with the creation of the Chuck Taylor All Star shoe in 1923, which went unmatched through five decades of professional basketball.


About Common
Common's seventh LP "Finding Forever" will be out July 31 and he will co-star opposite Denzel Washington in "American Gangster" this November 2007, directed by Ridley Scott. He's currently on location filming "Wanted" with co-stars Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy and will soon start work on director David Ayer's "The Night Watchman" starring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker.

Common made his big screen debut last year as a musical performer in "Dave Chappelle's Block Party" and his acting debut co-starring opposite Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Alicia Keys, and Ryan Reynolds in "Smokin' Aces" for Universal Pictures and writer/director Joe Carnahan. Additionally, Common has written children's books including “The Mirror and Me” which teaches lessons of life, the human spirit, and human nature. His follow-up book” I Like You But I Love Me” was recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and his third book, “M.E.” (Mixed Emotions), will be out later this year.

He also started The Common Ground Foundation, an organization dedicated to utilizing the cultural relevance of Hip-Hop to serve as an advocate for justice, education, to fight poverty, and to increase health awareness among youth in underserved communities throughout the United States.


About (RED) (TM) and (PRODUCT) RED
(RED)'s primary objective is to engage the private sector in raising awareness and funds for the Global Fund, to help fight AIDS in Africa. Companies whose products take on the (PRODUCT) RED mark contribute a significant percentage of the sales or portion of the profits from that product to the Global Fund to finance AIDS programs in Africa, with an emphasis on the health of women and children.

Current partners are: American Express (U.K. only), Apple, Converse, Gap, Giorgio Armani, and Motorola. MySpace.com is the first media sponsor in the United Kingdom and MTV Networks is the first media sponsor in the US.

Since its launch in the spring of 2006, (PRODUCT) RED and its partners have raised more than $25 million for the Global Fund. More than $11 million of the (RED) money is already at work in Swaziland and Rwanda providing anti- retroviral treatment for HIV positive individuals, funding HIV prevention programs, feeding and educating children orphaned by AIDS, and providing the 12 cent treatment needed to help prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child. Because of (RED), over two hundred thousand HIV positive mothers in Rwanda and Swaziland have been given treatment to help ensure that their children are born healthy and over 25,000 people are now on lifesaving drugs.


About the Global Fund
The Global Fund is the world's leading funder of programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which taken together kill over 6 million people per year. Created in 2002, the Global Fund has approved grants worth $7.6 billion to programs in 136 countries. Of this, $2.8 billion has been committed to AIDS programs in Africa.

As of May 2007, Global Fund-financed programs had put over 1,000,000 people on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment; had distributed 30 million insecticide-treated bed nets to combat malaria; and had detected and treated 2.8 million TB cases -- which are rising sharply due to co-infection with HIV -- under DOTS, the internationally-approved TB control strategy.

For more information about the Global Fund, visit: www.theglobalfund.org.

Source: Converse