Are You Seeing Red?

The (RED) brand just celebrated its 1st birthday in North America. What do you think so far? 

By: KuhaneGuy | Nov 13, 2007 |  3

Categories: Culture & Identity, Media & Advertising, Other Products, Artevist

It has been just over a year now that the Product (RED) brand was launched – March 2006 in the UK and October in North America.

The concept was the brainchild of Bono and Bobby Shriver and is an ambitious public/private model to raise funds for Global Fund and their fight against AIDS in Africa.

A lot needs to be done. Just have a look at these stats on HIV/AIDS in Africa from Global Fund's website:

• 25 million people are living with HIV/AIDS (40 million worldwide)
• 5,800 people die every day
• 13 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS
• 2,000 children are infected with HIV each day
• 40 cents a day covers the drugs needed to keep HIV at bay
• 70% of sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $2 dollars a day

The effort appears to be paying off, with more than $45.5 million being raised so far. That's nine times what Global Fund collected through more traditional means since its inception in 2002. Product (RED), however, is not intended to be a campaign, but rather a sustainable revenue generator for years to come, so it will be interesting to see how it evolves.

Much can be said about branding, consumerism, fashion and fundraising, so given that a year has gone by, I thought it was a good time to hear from Artevist readers on (RED) or any other interesting fundraising activities you've seen.

Submit a Comment:               

Your ideas and opinions need to be HERE...

LOG IN or SIGN UP to post a comment.

This is first I heard of the red products though I knew Bono was doing something. We don’t have it in Argentina. I looked at the website and it looks interesting, but what if you don’t like wearing red and what happens when red is not in fashion or people get bored?

By: MigMM
posted: November 15, 2007 at 03:55 PM

I think this is a brilliant campaign, but I do agree with the observation that it may be hard to keep it fresh over time. I do think of it as a campaign, and like all campaigns they’re usually short lived, especially when fashion is involved.

By: AllisonB
posted: December 01, 2007 at 03:00 AM

I think the idea is brilliant, but how long it will last is the question.

By: HagenDaz
posted: December 18, 2007 at 11:35 AM