Join RED

The best way to raise money to fight AIDS is to make sure that marketers make some money on the deal. RED is not a charity, its an economic initiative founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) founded RED to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund (fight against AIDS).

They have teamed up with some of the most well-known world brands - launch partners were Motorola, Giorgio Armani, American Express, Converse, the GAP (list is growing all the time) - to produce RED-branded products. RED^™ is a branding mechanism companies license to sell these products. Part of the proceeds from the sales go to The Global Fund and thus to help people infected with HIV.To be clear, this is not a campaign. It is an ongoing commitment from businesses to raise awareness and funds to help fight AIDS in Africa. The initiative aims to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to The Global Fund.
The RED products are really cool. I bought a RED shirt and a cap by Gap while on the road trip, and most definitely I am gonna buy more RED stuff and choose RED products whenever I can. I think this is a way anyone can make a change in a small way.

I think RED is cool and a great way to tap into crowds who don't care about these issues otherwise. People are gonna buy the stuff anyway, now they have a choice between a product that helps only the manufacturer’s pockets versus one that gives a percentage to a good cause.

While the critics of RED say it is lame and even unethical to use shopping for such causes, I find it bloody brilliant. I think that making socially responsible shopping sexy is the way to go. RED website has also an “impact calculator” that lets you see what your money can buy (a $28 shirt provides 41 single-dose treatments to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission).

Find out more about RED on their website: http://www.joinred.com/