Idol Gives Back, do you

I was flipping through the channels last night and just happened to stop on American Idol and it was there special, Idol Gives Back show. Every single one of the stories they told asking for donations and for ‘us’ to make a change were health related. Yes, I think American Idol is a joke but talk about a good channel for getting the word out there about health disparities in this world. They had a ton of well recognized celebrities talking about and visiting malaria stricken villages and AIDS orphans in Africa and poor parts in New York were nobody has health insurance. They even had the Prime Minister of England on donating 20 million mosquito nets worth $200 million (I wonder if the nets will be used properly or if they will be used as fishing nets instead? I am a little hesitant to just give out nets because I have seen how just giving them may not be the best solution). I see this show as a form of media advocacy because although they were soliciting donations they were also raising awareness amongst people who may not otherwise pay attention to these health issues. Is this wrong-reason health promotion? I don’t think so, I see it as one of the only ways to teach millions of people who would not otherwise pay attention about health issues that are affecting our world. Yes, I do remain skeptical about where the money actually goes and because of that I did not donate but none the less I feel Idol Gives Back was a great way to get important health messages out to the masses.