- Eleftheria Parpis

NEW YORK This holiday season Starbucks consumers will be able to buy a cup of coffee and help raise money to fight AIDS in Africa.

The Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee and (Red) today announced a multi-year partnership that will begin next month with the sale of three co-branded products. From Nov. 27 to Jan. 2, the retailer will donate five cents from the sale of (Red) Exclusive Holiday beverages Peppermint Mocha Twist, Gingersnap Latte and Espresso Truffle to the Global Fund, which was established in 2002 to finance programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria worldwide.

"Early this week, we unveiled our new initiative, Starbucks Shared Planet. It frames our commitment to doing business responsibly, our ability to use our scale as a catalyst of doing good, for our framers, our customers, our planet at large," said Michelle Gass, svp, marketing and category at Starbucks. "This project with (Red) hits on all three things squarely. And it gives our customers the opportunity to contribute, to do good and be part of this every single day."

More than 9,000 Starbucks stores in the U.S. and Canada will be decorated seasonal red for the holidays. Supporting advertising will launch next month in select markets.

The partnership was announced at the company's 20087 Leadership Conference in New Orleans today by Howard Schultz, Starbucks chairman, president and CEO, and Bono, co-founder of (Red), an organization launched two-and-a-half years ago to raise awareness and funds to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. Starbucks joins Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark, Apple, Microsoft Windows, Dell and American Express (U.K. only) in the (Red) effort.

"Starbucks gives (Red) the opportunity to do something good every day," said Jenifer Willig, director of partner management and marketing at (Red). "We have amazing partners who have great products, but this is an everyday product. We can bring the power of the Starbucks community together to help raise millions of dollars and save thousands of lives in Africa."