On Saturday, coffee giant Starbucks launched Facebook ads to 16 countries around the world, promoting a global Beatles sing-along for Aids charity (RED).

In continuation of the donation-per-cup scheme that Starbucks ran during World Aids Day on Tuesday, the ads will direct users (for the first five times they log in) to a dedicated microsite to further raise awareness of the cause.

The campaign, said to be the biggest global ad campaign via the social networking site to date, encourages people to take part in a recital of The Beatles classic ‘All We Need Is Love’. Starting at 1.30pm GMT, Starbucks has arranged for musicians in various countries to play the song simultaneously, which will be filmed and streamed live onto StarbucksLoveProject.com.

Visitors are asked to record themselves singing their own version of the song, and will be invited to upload their clips after the event. Starbucks has pledged to make a contribution to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Though using the social network is no longer revolutionary in itself, the sheer scale of investment that such a huge brand has put into this shows that the company believes its influence goes far beyond Facebook Groups. It’s also a nice touch to use the combined power of addiction to both caffeine and social networking for a bit of good, even though Starbucks definitely gets a healthy dose of promotion in the process.