Bono's Red Campaign in THE RED

[katty]

more: http://adage.com/article?article_id=115287

Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18 Million
Bono & Co. Spend up to $100 Million on Marketing, Incur Watchdogs' Wrath
By Mya Frazier

Published: March 05, 2007

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- It's been a year since the first Red T-shirts hit Gap shelves in London, and a parade of celebrity-splashed events has
The collective marketing outlay by Gap, Apple and Motorola for the Red campaign has been enormous, with some estimates as high as $100 million.
followed: Steven Spielberg smiling down from billboards in San Francisco; Christy Turlington striking a yoga pose in a New Yorker ad; Bono cruising Chicago's Michigan Avenue with Oprah Winfrey, eagerly snapping up Red products; Chris Rock appearing in Motorola TV spots ("Use Red, nobody's dead"); and the Red room at the Grammy Awards. So you'd expect the money raised to be, well, big, right? Maybe $50 million, or even $100 million.

[aquart]

1. What does using "red" mean?

[katty]

2. in this case: allowing partners in Red Camp to profit from

portions given to charities. One's financial books are either in the black (profit/maintaining) or red (loss).

[Dora]

4. It's the corporate "branding" of philanthropy.

Just another attempt to make money - this time by getting a cut of erstwhile philanthropic "purchases."

The whole thing smells funny to me, and I admit to knowing very little about it. While I applaud Bono's efforts, I think the campaign has made too much money for the wrong people. Isn't it better just to GIVE the damn money? Seriously, who really believes that they're doing something *good* just by buying any red whatchamacallit?

[katty]

6. indeed!

[Ignacio Upton]

3. Apple is really buying into this too

You can now buy a special edition red ipod Nano, and also get a special red itunes gift card, with proceeds going to fight AIDS.

[Diane R]

5. The items are far too overpriced.

I tried to buy 'Red' items at the Gap for Christmas. It became clear that Gap would make far more from those items than the alleged beneficiaries.

They claim that a 'portion' would go to Africa. Well, the items had been marked up so much that I'm sure GAP would get exactly the same profit as they would from any other item. Thirty-five dollars for a thin, short sleeved t-shirt?

I think it is a good concept, but unless it appears that the merchandiser is REALLY donating their profits, I won't be participating.

[katty]

7. prices are outrageous for one red-stressed t-shirt-pure profit