Actors, Video Stores Join Forces in Anti-Hunger Effort

Rent a video, feed a hungry child in the United States.

That is the aim of a new celebrity campaign--a joint effort between actors who make the movies and the video stores that eventually rent them out.

Actor Jeff Bridges and Jack Valenti, president and chairman of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, were on hand Tuesday for the kickoff event at Planet Hollywood in Beverly Hills.

The campaign consists of end-the-hunger public service announcements featuring celebrities that are preludes to some movies released on video. Campaign organizers are raising money through donations from video store customers and contributions from store owners.

The money will support food banks and other social service organizations in the communities where the money is raised.

The anti-hunger promotion will become an annual event in video stores during the summer months, the busiest time for video rentals, said Jeffrey Eves, president of the Video Software Dealers Assn.

Dubbed “Fast Forward to End Hunger,” the campaign’s main Hollywood connection is Bridges, who already is a well-known anti-hunger crusader through his work as the founder of the End Hunger Network.

Bridges, his brother Beau and his father Lloyd, along with Valerie Harper, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise and Glenn Close, are among the stars who have taped emotional pleas for help. Fifteen movie titles carry these public service announcements, and Eves said more should be on the shelves soon.

About 7,500 video retailers are participating in the project. Most of Blockbuster Video’s 3,200 retailers are involved, said Scott Barrett, president of the nationwide video chain.