Put on your RED shoes and dance. American Express, Converse, Gap and Giorgio Armani announce the first RED products to generate revenue stream for the Global Fund.
The campaign, an economic initiative designed to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
So if you fancy Emporio Armani RED greyish Wraparound glasses, a RED Amex card, a RED terra cotta GAP t-shirt (made in Africa), or a pair of funky RED black Chuck Taylor Converse All Stars, you can put your name on the waiting list on the RED site:
But leading NGO’s think the venture could prove counterproductive:
Bono has said that the companies involved will be profitting from this situation. The companies chosen run ethically-questionable multinational businesses, have been known to use sweatshops extensively e.g. Gap and Nike (Converse), have bad environmental practices, probably invest in shady companies that support wars of agression, etc. So giving drugs to people living in horrid conditions while creating horrid conditions for others solves what problem exactly? This seems really misguided to me.
Bono has said that the companies involved will be profitting from this situation. The companies chosen run ethically-questionable multinational businesses, have been known to use sweatshops extensively e.g. Gap and Nike (Converse), have bad environmental practices, probably invest in shady companies that support wars of agression, etc. So giving drugs to people living in horrid conditions while creating horrid conditions for others solves what problem exactly? This seems really misguided to me.
I want RED. I’m in Canada… I want my AMEX to turn from blue to RED. It would be so appropriate as it’s one of our national colours 🙂 Guess AMEX wants to test-run in the UK first though…
Props to Bono for looking for creative, fresh ideas to do right by our African brothers and sisters.
I want RED. I’m in Canada… I want my AMEX to turn from blue to RED. It would be so appropriate as it’s one of our national colours 🙂 Guess AMEX wants to test-run in the UK first though…
Props to Bono for looking for creative, fresh ideas to do right by our African brothers and sisters.
This scheme seems to miss the mark. The best solutions involved expropriating the drug patents, innovating ways to produce them cheaply in Africa, and then administer the drugs. The only long-term solution is to transform the society to be educated about s.x and AIDS, in the way that ACT UP did for g.y culture in America, and (ever so slowly) social NGOs run by minority communities are transforming their own cultures. Donating money won’t work any better than donating money to feed Africa fed people in the 1980s. The real solution is a combination of material support to deal with immediate needs, and long term support for popular political uprising.
To get to this point, however, Europe (and America) need to acknowledge their tarnished history in Africa, where the wealth of the continent was extracted, and the contient then abandoned.
This scheme seems to miss the mark. The best solutions involved expropriating the drug patents, innovating ways to produce them cheaply in Africa, and then administer the drugs. The only long-term solution is to transform the society to be educated about s.x and AIDS, in the way that ACT UP did for g.y culture in America, and (ever so slowly) social NGOs run by minority communities are transforming their own cultures. Donating money won’t work any better than donating money to feed Africa fed people in the 1980s. The real solution is a combination of material support to deal with immediate needs, and long term support for popular political uprising.
To get to this point, however, Europe (and America) need to acknowledge their tarnished history in Africa, where the wealth of the continent was extracted, and the contient then abandoned.
jk your comments make sense on a global scale but the aim of the global fund is just one piece of the proverbial pie. their accountability for funds disbursed is well documented on their site and go directly into accounts specifically set up for working to alleviate issues such as providing bed nets to prevent malaria ( just one example). Sure, Africa needs fair trade to get out of the situation on the whole, but providing bed nets or tb vaccinations is aiming to keep people from dying right now.
I understand the skepticism to this announcement of RED however. It needs to be marketed very carefully.
jk your comments make sense on a global scale but the aim of the global fund is just one piece of the proverbial pie. their accountability for funds disbursed is well documented on their site and go directly into accounts specifically set up for working to alleviate issues such as providing bed nets to prevent malaria ( just one example). Sure, Africa needs fair trade to get out of the situation on the whole, but providing bed nets or tb vaccinations is aiming to keep people from dying right now.
I understand the skepticism to this announcement of RED however. It needs to be marketed very carefully.